Final Fantasy I: The Light Warriors
by SmurfKiller
Summary: [UNFIN] Interlude up. The story. The journey. The adventure. The legends, myths, and monsters. The fantasy that started it all: FINAL FANTASY I. Please Read and Review.
1. Prologue: In the Beginning

Final Fantasy I: The Light Warriors

By: Smurf

_Author's Note: This is my first Final Fantasy book. This culminated into after beating the original Final Fantasy on Nintendo; it is more than just the story of the game, it tries to make a world out of the First Fantasy. It's deeper than the game itself, with the original storyline shaped into a world where characters and their surroundings immerse you in a universe. It is also the original Final Fantasy on the original Nintendo, so if anything changed on the Final Fantasy I and II game on Playstation 1 (Final Fantasy Origins), I am not aware of it because I've never played it. Following my inspiration of The Lord of the Rings_ _and The Wheel of Time_, _this combines both of the two. Enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: Final Fantasy I and the characters belong to Square-Enix, not to me. All characters I make up in this story are just free-floating pixels on your screen. _

_The world is veiled in darkness. The wind stops, the sea is wild, and the earth begins to rot. The people wait, their only hope, a prophecy...'When the world is in darkness, Four Warriors will come...' After a long journey, four young warriors arrive, each holding an orb. _

Final Fantasy I Prologue

Prologue: In the Beginning

First, there was only the Creator, Maker of All Things, who gave the universe Light and Dark. In the Beginning, he began to make the first of the four Friends,or _Tari_ in the Old Tongue. They were his offspring, able to bend the elementals of the universe at their will, but they never exceeded the status of the Creator. And with the Friends, he made a galaxy, and in this galaxy he made the world of Gaia for the _Tari _to live. And he told them: "Let this be your dominion, to live in harmony for the rest of eternity. But be forewarned that if the _Tari_ are not always at peace, your enemies will take advantage and destroy your world."

And so the Friends went away to their new home.

Each of the _Tari_ had a specific element he or she could manipulate the best, being Earth, Water, Fire, and Air Friends. Together, they formed their world into a habitable place. The Earth Friend gave Gaia its first lands, shaping them into interesting and unusual shapes, just as he liked. _Tar-_Earth made critters out of his molds of animals, as well as the first mountains. _Tar_-Water made the massive oceans that surrounded the land, teeming with silvery pearls of fish and animals. She made the streams, lakes, and rivers that encircled the great landmass of _Danador_. The Fire Friend made citadels out of rock and fire, mountains of inferno with seemingly topless peaks that awed any who came near. And the Air Friend made the wind, breezing through the world to cool the animals and make white waves in oceans.

The Friends began making animals, flyers that spread gracefully through the air, streaming fish that shone silver. Crawlers moved through the forests of Gaia, spreading their nutrients for the forests to thrive. And for two thousand years, things grew in peace and harmony, and the Friends made Gaia a utopia for all living things, as they played, happily together. So ended the Dream Age, where all harmony and peace was to be found, and the sins of the _Tari_ were buried deep in their hearts.

After a while, the Earth Friend grew tired of the animals and of Gaia, wanting to make a race that would be similar to him: short of temper, patience, and height, stout, hardy, builders of great things, a race that would last for the millennias. And so he made the Dwarves, the first race, who called the Earth Friend _Omru_, "Builder God." For the Dwarves were gifted the power of making great cities out of stone and metal, and hardy sharp swords that cut through steel, armor as hard as rocks, and crafting of precious metals into precious stars of beauty.

Now, seeing what the Earth Friend had done, the Water Friend wanted to make a race similar to her, and so she gave birth to Elves, great mariners of the seas, immortal, fair, and wise. And they shared their love of the seas and oceans as the Water Friend, making sleek sailing ships with port cities that were wondrous to all who came to see. So they named her _Alanni_, "Everclear," for her help.

The Fire and Air Friends saw what their siblings had done, and watched as the Dwarves thrived into great civilizations, and traded in harmony with each other. The Fire and Air Friends, though, could not create races akin to their own, for no race that they could create could live in the bellows of fiery pits or the freezing drafts of air. So they asked their brother and sister for help, and with them, they made Man and Dragons, the last of the two greatest civilizations of Gaia.

To the race of Man, each Friend contributed a small portion of each of their Talents, giving them many strengths. Men were weak in flesh, but the Friends gifted them with a imaginative, creative mind, able to bend the things around them into use. And so, they rivaled the Dwarves in the art of craftsmanship, and the Elves in navigating Gaia's seas. They manipulated fire into their own use, and made flying machines. And they dispersed, spreading across Gaia in great civilizations: Coneria, Amlador, and Tekam.

To the race of Dragons, the Friends gave them an archipelago of islands to secretly flourish. But the Air and Fire Friends gave strengths to the Dragons too, the ability to fly and breathe fire. And the Dragons grew into great sizes, yet harmed no Men, Dwarves, of Elves, but lived in brotherhood.

The Men named _Tar-_Air _Listoor_, meaning "breeze" in the Old Tongue, and the Fire Friend_ Fira_, which, simply put, meant "fire."

For another eight thousand years, all was peace, and Gaia thrived even more with the great civilizations on its land. For eight thousand years, Gaia lived well, her earthen floors home to many species. But cracks began to appear as the millennia came to an end, and the foundation that the Friends built trembled under the strain.

So ended the First Age.

The Creator watched, unknowingly to the Friends, as they bickered with each other, and as the race of Men bickered with other races, about land and water, and who was who's and what was what's. So he made a challenged for the Friends and races, to break them or to bind them together. And so he made the Four Fiends, anti-friends, demons of the souls of the Friends, the _Alatari._ Demons of the Heart.

As the _Tari _and their creations bickered, the _Alatari_ raced into the world of Gaia, corrupting all forms of life. Phantoms inhabited the corpses of dead men, enslaving their souls in hideous creations called Imps. Trees of the forests were under the spell of the Fiends, who turned into mighty Ogres that wielded stout clubs. Dragons were mutilated into new creatures, like the deadly Chimaeras. Sea creatures _Alanni_ had created became monsters, and pirates plundered the rich harbors of the Elves. The kingdoms of Men were set aflame, and Dwarves battled with creatures of the Underworld, as Elves watched their bountiful forests burn, and Dragons fought with their unnatural creations.

The Fiends were most interested in the Men. For Men were weak in heart, desiring power and wealth, and could be induced to work for the wills of Evil. And the Fiends gave each of the mighty kings a gift of immortality and power, to be able to wield the might gifts the Friends gave to their creations. The Kings of Tekam and Amlador accepted, becoming the most powerful servants and slaves to the will of the _Alatari. _But the young Conerian King refused, and from that time on, and raised a host to fight the Fiends. And so the Kings of the Dream Kingdom became known as the Kings of the Stars and Moon, for the night's sky had only the Light in the form of the heavenly stars and the moon to match the Darkness that spread.

The Friends, seeing all that they had labored to build being swept away in a torrent of fire and death, quickly acted to save their world and their creatures from certain annihilation. The earth groaned. The skies shook with thunder. The waters raged. The fires of the mountains glowered. The apocalyptic war was so devastating the great continent of _Danador _that the Dwarves, Elves, and Men lived on was broken apart. And all that was left was death.

But the Friends and their host of creatures cornered the _Alatari_ in the Temple of Fiends, which the citizens of Tekam and Amlador had labored under the enslaved kings to build. The bastion of stone and ice was impenetrable, as the Friends lunged with desperate attacks with hosts of Elves in green with silvery swords and slim bows, as well as Dwarves in burnished armor and short axes and pikes, and a massive host of Conerian Knights, with a forest of lances. Dragons, too, helped their creators by sending fiery flames at the enemy, which swelled with numbers from the dead, and from the armies of Tekam and Amlador.

Time and time they clashed, until the land shook with the weight of the dead, and the blood that drained into the massive seas turned it crimson. And the seas were given a new name: the _Aldi _Sea. The Red Sea.

The _Tari_ soon realized that they could not destroy their inner demons through force, as the _Alatari_ and their twisted creations withstood attack after attack against their fortress. Therefore they decided to battle their inner demons themselves, to bind them together into four Orbs, earth, fire, water, and air. And so, the _Tari _entered the Temple, and the legions of the _Alatari _cowered under the Light of the Friends. When reaching the Fiends, they bound the four evils, Lich, fiend of Earth, Kary, fiend of Fire, Kraken, fiend of Water, and Tiamat, fiend of Air into each of the four Friends, binding and sealing themselves together into four orbs that glowed brightly as the moon. But the orbs vanished, and the hosts of the Friends thought they had won.

The legion of the Fiends trembled and wailed, throwing themselves with despair at the hosts of the Friends, who slaughtered the creations. But they had not defeated the _Alatari. _For the Fiends were only bound by the sacrifice of the Friends into four orbs, and they knew, in some other Age, the Fiends would break loose of their prisons, as their shadowy creations would once again, rally around the banner of the Fiends. But the Friends would not be there to help, only buried inside those four mysterious orbs, battling their arch-enemies for the Light of the orbs, lest they turned Dark. The only thing the _Tari_ had left was a prophecy:

_"When the world is in darkness, four Warriors will come,_

_though knowing not their destiny or route,_

_they know they must fulfill the journey or succumb,_

_to the evils of the orbs, that will spread and loot. _

_In this we leave you, beloved of Gaia,_

_four Light Warriors that will save your world...for our time is gone."_

And with this, they left the world of Gaia forever, attached into the four orbs. And the hosts of the _Tari_ knew, that once their world was in peril, the four Light Warriors, with the darkened orbs and spirits of the Friends, would rise to fulfill their destiny and defeat the Fiends.

So ended the Second Age.

The Third Age began like any other, as Coneria rose to her mighty feet and conquered lands, from the East Aldi Sea to the deserts of the North, and successive Kings of the Stars fought off the remnants of the Fiends. Tekam and Amlador became phantoms, great cities that once were, but never again.

But slowly, like a decaying oak tree, the Dream City and her kingdom shrunk, and the power of those who betrayed the Friends rose again, and the creatures of the _Tari _slowly sank into an abyss. In the Dream City, people looked towards each horizon, murmuring:

"Whence do the Light Warriors come?"

"When all have lost hope."


	2. Chapter 1: The Orb of the Earth

Chapter One: The Orb of the Earth

Lukhan, the lore-master adviser to the King, woke with a start. It was beginning...

The Princess, Sara, Swan-Princess of the Moon and Stars, would be kidnapped. And only the Light Warriors, prophesied to return at the world's greatest need, would be the only ones worthy enough to save her.

Dawn creeped into his room inside the Dream castle, as the old mage fumbled with his slippers. Lighting a candle on his oaken desk, he stared, absent-mindedly at the flickering flame, silky wax melting off the sides of the candle. His dream was coming back to him, and the riddle that accompanied it flickered in his mind:

_"One is found, in the city under the Light,_

_Ancient is the Warrior, who comes from the Blight,_

_Another from where wild rose grows,_

_And the last, dark may he be, is right under your nose."_

It was as if _Alanni_, the sea goddess, had come into the night and whispered the riddle into his ear as he dreamt. And only he would be able to find these Warriors, wherever they were. _Mercy, what confounding tasks have you given me, creators of all in this world?_

The sun's slithering rays crept from the balcony to his room, piercing the dark shadows hiding. If the Warriors were to arise, it meant that the _Alatari_ were on the loose. And Lukhan, the lore-master and mage, would have to find those prophesied to save the world.

* * *

Tranmankand. The City of Thieves.

Sun, sand, and thieves plagued Tranmankand, like no other in this age. Once, it had been the proud fortress built at the height of the Conerian Kings. Wonder and amazement filled all who came to travel down dusty miles to see its great walls, which suddenly appeared in the sea of blistering sand and sun. The walls had never failed to protect itself from armies of Sand-Imps and wandering bandits. But now, the City Under the Light was now left to its own guard, abandoned by the Kings of the Moon and Stars.

The sun's deadly rays scorched the city, north of the Dream Kingdom, in the sandy deserts of Sind. Light burned Tranmankand's sun-baked roofs and walls, and her cobbled streets were buried under a sea of neverending sand. It was invading the ancient city, burning and tormenting her people.

Outside the city walls, a flurry of sandy dust was raised, as glints of six riders, pacing their steeds at moderate speeds, approached the city's high mud and stone walls. The tower guard looked, squinting his eyes to look at the crests on the cloaks of the six riders. Coneria knights, by their white and red cloaks, with a design of a crescent moon and stars above a sword and clouds. The cloaks flapped in the dry wind, fine embroidery marking them as members of the Dream Castle Guard. The King's Own. The sentry on the tower shouted, once, and the two massive doors, made of the finest oak wood imported from Provoka, opened.

Six dusty horsemen, their cloaks swaddled in sand, their light armor rusted, walked in, as the Commander of the City Guard looked, his face wrapped under the impression of nonchalance. But concern was poking out of the mask: none had traveled so far, from Coneria, to visit the City of Thieves, unless it were the tax collectors Tranmankand so hated. But these men were soldiers.

Their features were solemn and dark, with pale complexions under dark brown hair; their air of nobility and honor was not arrogant, but, like true knights, mingled virtue and humbleness. Their breastplate armor, though rusty, looked robust and beautifully crafted, covering only their torsoes to maxmize flexibility. The finely crafted helmets on their head still reflected off the sun's beauty, each with a crescent moon and stars carved on the sides.

The man leading the knights dismounted, his horse snorting as if lacking in water. He nodded to the commander.

"Where do you come from, riders?" The commander asked, slowly, without the sharpness northerners were known for.

"From Coneria, my friend. My name is Captain Alyn As'yan."

"And mine is Commander Taxu Bes'tan. Of the City Guard." He looked at the horses and other men. "Your men and steeds are fatigued from the long dusty rides in this desert wasteland. If they proceed to the barracks, they will find refreshments."

With a nod from their captain, the men and horses left, leaving the two officers at peace.

"You are wondering why we are here, Commander Bes'tan?"

"I would like to know. Conerians have rarely ventured to their northern fortress, nowadays, unless-" Bes'tan's eyes twinkled with a smile, "-taxes are yet to be collected."

As'yan sighed. "It is our folly that we cannot defend ourselves, much less our fortress in the north. My apologies, Commander, if we rushed into your city with haste and arrogance."

"None taken. May I ask why you are here?"

"A certain man of interest."

"A fugitive?"

"No."

"Who, then?" Bes'tan's anger was spiking. These southerners tested his patience.

"A man of interest. I cannot say, Commander. These are far troubling times. We have not the time to waste. We must find him, and we would appreciate your actions if you and your men can-"

"If cannot _even_ tell us who this man is, our help is to no avail," Bes'tan interuppted, angrily. His swordarm lingered to his scabbard.

"Perhaps a monetary donation will help?" As'yan said, wearily, pulling out a bag of fat Gils.

"I cannot be bribed!" Bes'tain cried, his hand on his grip of his sword.

"Fine." The Captain said flatly, stripping off his gauntlets. "You wish to know?" As'yan looked at the Commander hard in the eyes. "This man is one of the _Betar_. One of the Light Warriors."

Bes'tan's sword dropped to the ground, metal reverberating across the sandy floor.

* * *

Dank and dark, with pungent, strong smells masking anything else, Tranmankand's alleyways were no different than any other city's. It was here a youth, light haired, and wearing a jerkin of leather, stood, his back on the wall of the _Jolly Barmaids Inn and Tavern._ He bit an apple, ivory teeth matching his handsome features. His skin, well tanned from the endless sun, matched his equally bright, brown eyes. He was a con man, a deceiver who smiled and dug his hand into the unprotected pockets of rich merchants. A thief.

As he ate the apple, one hand absentmindedly stroked an orb that hung on his neck, supported by a coil of black twine. A glowing swirl of volcanic rock and bubbling earth was forming inside the darkened orb, like it often did when the youth rubbed it. As if it were predicting the future, it stopped its oozing of lava, as soon as the back door of the _Jolly Barmaids_ opened.

A young girl, with a divulging dress, black curls falling merrily on her white, silky face, poked out, her happiness magnified a thousand times as she hugged the young man.

"Jakk! To what do I owe this most surprising surprise?" Her lips formed into a scarlet smile, contrasting beautifully with her ivory face. She backed away, still smiling innocently.

"What are you doing here?"

"To only glimpse at your pretty face, Peach." The thief was looking at the girl's magnificent bosom.

"Ah, 'tis something you often do now, Jakk Skyaar," she said, inching towards his ear. "There is a man, a rich merchant, who is staying at the _Barmaids_ for tonight. He will be in his merry-making at a rich lord's house this evening. But you can can be in his room. 102."

Jakk felt a small object _clink_ into a pocket. A key to the man's room.

"As always, my lady," he said, mocking a bow. As he lowered, the orb, glowing and yet darkening in ways of intensity, hung out, exposed. Peach, eyeing the mysterious orb with hypnotized look, reached out for it.

"Jakk, what is-"

Swiftly, Jakk recoiled back, one hand savagely grabbing the girl's slender wrist, the other brandishing a hidden knife from his sleeve.

"You are not allowed to touch what does not belongs to you," he hissed.

"You are hurting me," she said through sobs, as Jakk's hand clenched harder around her wrist. But suddenly, as out of a broken daze, he let go, reflexes automatically slipping the knife into sleeve as his other hand freed the girl's wrist. Peach rubbed it, her face half angry and surprised. Swiftly, she gave him a good kick.

"You are not my master, Jakk Skyaar, nor am not your doll. Don't-" she emphasized this with another kick, "-ever-" another kick followed, "-do that again!"

Jakk winced in pain. _Bloody women..._

"Peach, I'm-" Jakk searched for the right words, still in shock. "I'm sorry. I'm not myself anymore."

The girl sighed. "It's not the first time this has happened, Jakk. What's wrong?"

The man looked at the girl, almost ready to tell. But instead, he shut his mouth, and closed in, entrenching her with a tight hug. "Tonight Peach, I will bring you diamonds and pearls. I hope they will make up for whatever I have done."

And with that, he stalked away, leaving the girl fussing with her hair before she went into the inn. Thieves worked only at night.

* * *

He checked his chronometer, a present from his sister. Where ever she was now. They had been born almost a minute apart; she was the older of the two. Never had he looked at her before, having been separated at birth. Never had he seen his father either. They were torn by the Imp wars, when armies of the creatures had ravaged the lands, splitting apart familes, wives from husbands, sons from fathers, and brother from sister. Jakk's mother had reared him until her death when he was ten. Then, he was a street urchin, in this damnable city. And the only thing to remind him of his divided family was the watch, given to him by his mother, with the words _From the love of your sister, we can never be separated._

As if. As if those words meant anything to Jakk. He sighed, putting the chronometer away. That was a past life.

Tranmankand's day were long, and it was long past supper before the light had fully fled from the darkness. Silently, he walked into the _Jolly Barmaids _Inn and Tavern. Loud sounds, of cackling, drunken men trying to soothe many a girls to bed, and of maids, giggling, filled his ears. _Thank the Tari that Peach worked during the day, when things were much quieter. And none of these foul beasts of men are lurking around..._Jakk thought, one hand firmly ready to grip his hidden knife. It would look suspicious if he went upstairs immediately. No, he would have a drink before he started to the merchant's room. He sat on a stool in the corner, trying to not to arouse any suspicion. And doubly so, as there was two men, soldiers from the South by their garb and gear, that were alertly sitting in the bar. Jakk spied them out of the corner out of his eye, but as he was asking the tavern master, Dunn, for a gin tonic, the two soldiers moved, eyeing him and then whispering.

_It was nothing. They noticed me because I am not drunk, unlike everyone else. It cannot mean anything!_ But slowly, the image of Peach crept into his mind. Had she betrayed him, told someone of his deeds and actions for the past seven years? _No, she could have not. _He sipped his tonic once it arrived, rubbing his orb for luck. _I might need it tonight._ The soldiers left him alone.

He crept out of sight, and then, nimbly climbing the spirling wooden stairs quietly. He took out the key, as he remembered the rich merchant's lodgings: Room 102.

Yes, it was here, he thought, inching towards the door with the number on it. He put his ear to the door, and listened. No one there. Good. Now, he put the hand on his on the brass knob, inserted the golden key into the hole, and slowly and silently opened the door.

A soldier sat patiently by the fireplace. Peach stood by the bed, looking frightened. The man turned around, smiling.

"So, you are Jakk Skyarr. Peach has told many good things about you." His sword was undrawn. The thief looked from the man to the girl, eyeing silent words. _You! What is going on here!_ The thief turned to run.

The two soldiers from the tavern faced him, also smiling innocently, though their hands were by their swords. These mens were Conerians, and by their cloaks, the King's Own!

"You cannot pass, my friend," one of them said.

"Whence...whence do you come from?" Jakk asked, breathlessly. It was over here. They had caught him...and the rest of his days would be in a dank cell.

"We come from the Dream City. Do you not know, Jakk?" The man from the room smiled oddly again, looking for something on the thief's neck. Peach, a frightened expression on her face, nervously looked over the burnished shoulder plate of the officer's armor.

"He said they won't hurt you, Jakk. I had no choice but to trust them! I..." she trailed off, looking intently at the orb on the youth's neck. "They said you were one of the..." She fell silent again, as the man gave her a sharp look.

"You are to come with us, Skyarr. But introductions must be made. My name is Captain Alyn As'yan, of the Coneria Guard. My men and I will escort you to the Coneria. It is a ten day's ride there, and I suggest you prepare for the journey."

Jakk nodded, still stunned and shocked. _There is no escape. But what are they wanting from a common thief like me?_

"What-" Jakk was cut off rudely by one of the soldiers. "We must leave quickly. Make haste and gather the necessities of this journey. Come, I will escort you." The soldier, his red and white cloak fluttering as he moved, gestured to the young man, half his age.

"Am I to be executed for my crimes?"

"Executed?" As'yan smiled. "Nay. But your crimes shall be avenged once we get to the city. Nay, my lad. First, you are meeting the King."


	3. Chapter 2: The Orb of Fire

Chapter Two: The Orb of Fire

_A healer does not refrain from the sight of blood!_ Her father's words came into her mind as she winced at the sight of bubbling, crimison liquid came out of the man's leg. Slowly, she looked at it. The cut was deep and infectious. Any quack would have immediately suggested cutting it away to prevent the infection from spreading, but a healer did not. Their magic was to used heal people, not take a body part away.

She crumpled some of the _akas_ leaves, and stuffed them hastily in her mouth, chewing them. The man, a wood-cutter, moaned softly, delirious. His two companions looked on, worried.

The young healer took the _akas_ out of her mouth, and applied with a firmness on the wound. The woodsman let out one last gasp, and then fell into unconscious state.

"What are you doing?" One of the woodmens roared, his axe by his side. Aki, the healer, ignored it.

"Where was he wounded?"

The men took a deep breath simultaneously. "In the forest. By Imps," one of the men said, as if one of the _Alatari_ was listening.

Imps were now as common as the trees in the Black Forest now, northwest of the the city of Coneria. It was here, Aki, daughter of the late healer, lived, the closest village to the ruins of the Temple of Fiends. Once, Conerian Knights had cleared the area of the Imps, but now, Coneria could hardly defend itself against Imps, much less her subjects.

"Hmm...Imps?" Aki said, fingering a dark orb under the folds of her cloak. Small as a marble, it was a stress reliever, as any time she felt for it she brought both the emotions of happiness and fear into the depths of her soul.

The wounded man had stopped moaning, but the wound continued to fester. Slowly, she looked at it, concentrating the powers of her magic. _Annon wund._ _Annon suppe wund. _She whispered the words into the air, absentmindedly, then slowly concentrating, as she looked at the wound. And slowly, it stopped, blood drying and as the wound scabbed. It was healed.

Slowly, she sighed, in relief, collasping on her cot in her small abode. It was a complicated bit of magic her father had told her to learn, that tired a person, draining them of energy. _Someday, when you are healer, you will have to use these spells too, passed down from generations of the Arkyas._ Images of her father came back. Amidi Arkya would tell his daughter the stories of his younger days, when he had been a mage-surgeon in the Coneria Army. Treating men, whose faces drained at the sight of the shadow creatures that they fought to honor and protect their kingdom.

The two men stared at each other, and then gasped their thanks. One of the men, a heavily built, salt and pepper man who face spawned a number of cuts and scars, smiled. "Your father would be proud, Aki. He was...a good man. His passing was tragic for all of us."

"Thank you, Twar. Here-" she gave him a bag of the _akas_ leaves. "-pound this up and apply on the wound when he awakes because of pain. It will be fully healed in a few days."

"My thanks, to you, village healer," Twar said, shouldering his axe. He turned to his companion. "Come, let us take Sean back to the village. Aki has done enough for us."

Aki smiled as they went out, carrying the man. Softly, she closed the door of her house, nearby the village of Dylser. _Enough for one night! _she thought. "Maybe a bit of tea would do me some good," she said, watching as the night grew in intensity. She started the fire, looking again, absentmindedly in the flames, bright and vivid to match her red hair. She felt something hot grow inside the folds of her white cloak, a gift from her father. A white mage's cloak. Hastily, she grabbed the orb out of her the pocket, and winced at its heat grew. Inside, flames leapt up and down, encompassing everything. _What is this?_ No remembrance of where she found or received the orb came into mind. The only thing she knew was that one day, it was hers, and she came to have it close to her side.

The door thumped, urgently. Once. Twice. A third time. She gave a gasp, put the orb inside her cloak, and grabbed her trustworthy hammer. The only weapon she knew how to use. No injured man would come this late into the night.

Slowly, she inched towards the door. The knocks grew in their intensity. _What is out there?_

"Please," a man's voice, urgent and strong, yelled, muffled by the wooden door, "please, we were told that the village healer lived here. Our man is sick."

Letting out a small sigh, Aki put away the hammer, and opened the door. Another gasp escaped her: A Conerian Knight. Here, in the village of Dysler! The man looked equally shocked at Aki: _Here is a woman, nay, a young lady, whose features are those that are so lovely that all the men of the village should be wooing her. Yet, she is their village healer, respected and aged with knowledge. Is this the Warrior we look for?_

"Good evening, sir," Aki said, looking up at the man. "What may I help you with?"

The soldier moved, knowing he was obstructing her view. Aki looked past him, and saw three other men, two holding the other in a movable splint. His face was drained of blood, bandage on his arm bloody and dripping red.

Firmly, she moved aside. "Come, come quickly. These parts are not safe from the shadows of night."

The men moved into the small adobe as Aki readied herself for another grueling round for being the doctor. _'Tis odd that four men, from the Kingdom of Coneria, come to these parts. _

"Here, lay him on this cot," she said, pointing to the bed. Gingerly, the knights put him down. A massive gash under the bandage started to bleed slowly again, as his comrades removed his armor and helmet. Turning around the soldiers waited intently for Arkya to heal him.

"My name is Commander Gregory Vesigh of the King's Guards," the soldier who had knocked on the door said.

"And mine is Aki Arkya," she said, turning around to look at their wounded companion. "An Imp attacked him?"

Vesigh nodded grimly. "We were ambushed by a score of them." Aki nodded.

Like she had done with the woodsman, she tiredly performed the magic her father had entrusted her with. The soldiers looked on, their helmets by their sides, nodding in an oddly satisfied way, like they had arrived at the right house. Aki turned around.

"He will be alright. It is not the first time Imps have attacked a man...nor the last. Mayhaps you can answer a question for me?"

"Of course, Healer Arkya," Vesigh said, nodding.

"What are men, of the Coneria Guard, traveling into a village as small and far away as mine. You are the honor guard of the King."

Vesigh smiled. "And we do the King's bidding. They say a girl, nay a young lady, lives in this village where the wild roses grows. And 'tis true that the wild roses that grew by your yard, outside. We have found the right person. Can you leave tonight? A journey to Coneria is only two days from here."

"Leave? My duty is to heal and help the sick and wounded of our village! I cannot leave!" Aki said, half surprised. _Leave to Coneria! On whose orders!_

"On the orders of the King," Vesigh said, reading her mind. "Your village will be taken care of, and you must do your duty as a citizen of to thy King's bidding."

Flabbergasted, Aki dropped the small bag of herbs she was carrying, and the small orb, the size of a large marble, rolled out from under her cloak.

The Commander of Coneria froze, watching the orb intently, as if it was an object of both great desire and distaste. Slowly, he turned around to the young healer. "Do you not know who your are? You are one of the Light Warriors, destined to saved our world from destruction."


	4. Chapter 3: The Orbs of Water and Air

Chapter 3: The Orbs of Water and Air

The ship rolled back and forth on the stormy seas, lolling about in an endless wave of blue and white foam that splashed on its wooden sides. On the deck of the _Everlasting,_ a man, tall and emaciated, stood, his attire strange: a yellow, pointy hat hid all but his eyes, while a dark blue cloak flapped around in the wind. He stood there, wind making no affect on the hat, as it seemed to resist the wind's call to move it.

"Stranger, he is," muttered the captain, a grizzled old man, with one leg that was shorter than the other. He looked at man, a mage of dark magic, with a mixture of curiosity and contempt.

"Whence did he come from?" Another passenger smiled as he asked, feeling the breeze on her face. Free at last, from the blasted place she had to call home for twelve days. Free.

"Come from? Mistress, he came from the same place you did! The Blighted Lands, where the armies of elves and Imps clashed two thousand years ago. Now, all that's left of those hell-bitten islands are ghosts of the dead, and men with enough dark history to strand themselves there." He looked at his passenger's face. "You were lucky your ship crashed at the time the _Everlasting_ came, there's been no ship there for hundreds of years, since the Breaking of the Alliance. Nor any ship in most any part of the seas," he muttered to himself.

"You said the King ordered you here...why?"

"Why, to bring back that mage, o'course! He's probably a criminal, he is, who kidnapped the King's daughter. And my reward was richly paid for going out on the seas these days." He patted his pocket, and the lady heard Gils clinking.

"Strange though, he never resisted when we found thing. Stranger thing is that we did find him. It is not easy to do in these parts."

The lady smiled again. "He is mysterious, no doubt about that." She walked over to him.

"Do you find the seas as refreshing as I do, stranger?"

The mage smiled underneath the deep folds of his cloak as he looked at the sun set, filling the skies with a red, bloody haze. His voice was calm and clear, without the gritty tones one would think of a man hidden beneath hat and cloak.

"Do you know why they call it the Aldi Seas, Lady?"

"No."

"Because, during the Second Age of this world, so much of Gaia's blood drained down the giant rivers and into the seas, that it was called the Red Seas: the name in the Old Tongue for Red was _Aldi._"

The lady's smile faded off, and her eyebrows arced in fury. "You did not need to wishwash me with that bit of folklore, mage!"

She turned around, as a seaman on the deck looked the endless horizon. "Look, there is the port of Coneria!" he cried. The mage and lady look, one look calculating and the other awed: rising ahead, in a harbor, was a massive lighthouse; even the gulls were only skimming the thermals half way up the structure. As each of the sections of the towering spire rose, the thinner and most elegantly carved it got, until a massive light shone at the top.

Below, dozens of ships, man o' wars of the Coneria fleet, merchant ships, and small crafts mingled, each tied to the docks, unmoving. The only ship out at sea was the _Everlasting._

As if the Fiend of the Water, Kraken, had come, the seas swelled in size, azure water foaming onto the deck of the ship with increasing strength. Sailors looked alarm, and the Captain shouted to his men for the riggings to be untangled, and the sails unfurled. The lady moved into the safety of her cabin.

Sharks, half as big as the _Everlasting, began_ circling, creating more panic in the seamen and Captain. Some sailors, forgoing their duties, prayed for mercy to the _Tari_. Here, only a few leagues from the Port of Coneria, they were about to sink in the depths of the Red Sea, in full daylight.

But their deliverance had already home.

_"Thunor e liten!"_

The long arms of the Black Mage stretched out to the heavens, as he said the incantations with a rising, bellowing voice. Thunder crackled, and lightning, long, thin strands from the sky, reached down and smelted the sharks to their deaths, their bellies showing as they floated haplessly in the calming seas.

The Captain of the _Everlasting_ looked stunned. The Mage looked at him, yellow, glowing eyes under that straw colored hat. They seemed so innocent, but the Mage was powerful himself...

"If you wish to dine on fresh shark fins, my Captain, have your men haul out a shark." And with that, the Black Mage walked back to his cabin.

The Captain stood, open mouth. Magic! Here, before his very eyes. _Witchcraft, aye, that's the charge that I'm bringing up for._

"Halt, Mage. What is your name?"

The robes of the retreating mage stopped swishing, as his yellow eyes narrowed. "Bane."

* * *

Lukhan scribbled on a piece parchment, dipping his ink and carelessly letting it dribble on the fine parchment. It had been six weeks since he had told the King of his strange story. Six weeks since the King of Coneria had sent out his riders to find these Light Warriors, for them to bring back his daughter.

_Whence do they come?_

And he had not yet found the fourth one. _...dark may he be, is right under your nose._ Deep in thought, Lukhan almost didn't notice the Conerian Guard coming into his room. The Guard, nicknamed Klad, for no one really knew what his true name was, had been in his service for almost two years, as a messenger. Lukhan had chosen him for his almost unnatural knowledge of the Prophecies, and of the shadowy kingdoms of Amlador and Tekam. The man knew more than the Lords of Coneria did.

Like the other men of the King's Own, he was tall, dark, and had an aura of unbreakable pride in him. He wore no armor; it was not required inside the Dream Castle. But his alert steps, long strides, and knowledge marked him from the many Guards Lukhan could have chosen to be his helper.

"Master Lukhan." The Guard made a deep bow, with his thin sabre hanging in his belt bowing with him.

"Klad. Have you any news of the return?"

"The three Warriors are coming into the Castle this evening. They have all arrived."

"Good, good. I hope you have had-" The lore-master's eyes bulged. Whas that what he thought it was? On the Guard's right hand, a bracelet with a single, stylish marble-like sphere. Almost reflexively, the Guard's hand went to his sword hilt.

_Right under your nose..._

"You are the Fourth," Lukhan said, looking intently at the man's stony, serene face. Klad nodded placidly in return.

"Why did you not tell me?"

The soldier smiled, eyes mixing his sadness and honor.

"It is said in the Prophecies that the Four Warriors would not proclaim themselves. That, in the time of the greatest need of the world by Gaia's people, they would search for those who would lead the world back into the Light. And the duty and honor that come in the service of the Light would not be claimed, but found: for the warriors would have to lead the whole of our world to battle against the shadow. It is a task not to be claimed."

Again, the soldier made a formal bow.

"That is why I did not proclaim myself."

Lukhan nodded sagely, as the King's Guard looked lost among his own thoughts.

"Are you prepared for this duty, then?"

The soldier drew his thin sword, and knelt to one knee, with his head lowered and sword in his hands as if he was offering it to the mage.

"By my honor and duty, I shall do what I must to serve the _Tari _and my king."

And as Lukhan looked at him, he wondered what the last riddle meant: _"dark may he be..."_


	5. Chapter 4: Arrivals

Chapter Four: Arrivals

"Does the might of our kingdom astonish you, thief?"

Jakk nodded to the knight to his left, still stunned by the grandeur of the Dream City. His horse, a sturdy stallion, gave a human-like _harrumph_ when lead away from a massive fountain in the city square. The streets were paved, not with sand, but with cobblestones, and a _click, clack_ sound from the horseshoes of the horses made a beat.

Far ahead, the Dream Castle rose with spikes of silver, tall towers and walls marking the power of the Conerian kings. It was there the fate of the thief lay.

_This is a city to make a living! _Jakk thought, looking at the rich, bejeweled carriages of nobles and merchants mingling with men and women with fat purses of Gils. This, indeed, surpassed any type of living the thief could have made at Tranmankand.

But he could not steal away under the shadow of night to purloin those rich purses, under a ring of heavily armed Guards. The procession, however, looked innocent to a bystander's eyes. The Commander, Alyn As'yan, had given the young thief clothes fit for a noble: silver embroidery of Coneria stars and moon intertwined with a handsome brown orb that was on the back of the coat. Underneath, a shirt of silk, complete with lace by the throat fit handsomely on the thief's frame. The boots of black leather and brown pants also fit the style of a noble's closet. Jakk looked every bit as a lord riding with an escort.

They had arrived only yesterday, taking residence in a village inn on the outskirts of the towers of the Dream Castle. It had not been a friendly trip. Everyday, before the sun rose, they would awake and start their journey, Jakk under tight guard, surrounded by a ring of knights. From afar, they looked a like a passing caravan, escorting a noble or rich merchant across the Wild. But Jakk was a prisoner, bound by steel lances to the procession.

Getting off his horse, he neared the fountain, looking at his own reflection in the pool of shimmering water. Elegantly carved, the water spouted from a horse's mouth, the steed tall and proud, bearing a Coneria Knight, impaling an ugly Imp to death. It was the symbol of the struggle between Good and Evil that had persisted in the world for so long.

The soldier closes to him motioned with a flick of his head.

"Come, thief. We will be in the Castle tonight. He motioned again to the most splendid building in the citythe Dream Castle, its thick walls and sky-defying towers reaching towards the _Taras_, the Heavens.

Tendrils of long past memories and histories of the world suddenly inflicted Jakk, as words crept up and into his mouth, making it move.

"It is said that the walls of the Dream City shall forever hold if the Dream Castle cannot be breached," he said, surprising himself with his clean voice, and in his mind another voice sweetly whispered _"but all will fail if the Four cannot be reached."_

"You are lored in the history of our kingdom?" The knight who had just a moment ago asked him with an uttermost calmed contempt about thieving was looking at him with a incredulous stare.

Jakk gave him a cool look, trying to calm himself from wondering where the voice had come from. "Thieves have minds too. And we can learn as easily as anyone."

Giving a snort similar to the horse he was sitting on, the knight moved forward, leaving Jakk still confused from where the words that erupted from his mouth had come from, and where the riddle that was echoing in his mind first found residency in his head. It certainly wasn't from his mind.

* * *

Aki watched curiously as the newcomer in the castle walked into its grounds, escorted by two of those tall Conerian Knights. The castle was in hush, as servants and ambassadors from Coneria's neighboring kingdoms milled around, whispering to each other in rasping tones.

She was in the outer castle grounds, her white cloak with red stripes on the hood and sleeves making her stand out in the colorful, multi-colored clothes of the nobles and soldiers in uniform. Nervously, she was still fingering the orb, though with hesitance. _Was this the source of all my troubles? The knights that escorted me to the city always looked at the orb when they thought I wasn't looking, spying it as if it was the source of their troubles and greatest dreams. _

_"At first they know not what they are, only that they are the Chosen, of four." _

"The Chosen, mage?"

Aki was startled out of her daydream, still uncertain who had said those last words. Was it her mind playing tricks on her?

"Did I say something out loud, Sir Commander?"

Vesigh smiled, handsomely, with his well-worn face making his youthful grey eyes standing out even more. "You mentioned something about the Chosen, and the Four, about the Warriors. Is that what I not told you, the night I arrived to your house?"

Aki nodded. The Knight had not mentioned a whit about the Light Warriors for many days until now. As she looked at him, it seemed he was off-balanced and deep in thought.

"Commander Vesigh?"

"Aki, your room in the inn has been transferred to the Castle, along with three others. You will meet with the Lore-Master, Lukhan, tonight. That is all that I can say." Quickly, he left, leaving Aki feeling both confused and curious. Three other strangers were looking at her, one, in the robes of blue of a Black Mage, but the only thing that she could see that was human were two yellow eyes poking out of the cape and yellow cap. Another was dressed in the uniform of a Knight, unusually slender and handsome. The last, as a noble, his youthful, immaculate face proud.

And, it seemed each of them knew Aki, and Aki knew them. And all of them had their orbs visible, and all were dark in color.

"You are Klad," she murmured at the soldier.

"And you, you are Jakk." She pointed to the noble.

"You already know who I am, Aki. But allow me to introduce myself as Bane, your fourth Companion." The black mage stepped forward, bowing low, hands clasped in some kind of greeting.

The soldier nodded, but the other man, in his rich dress of nobility, stepped forward, his faced pained with confusion.

"I know you too, mage, but I know not why I know you? Who are we? What are we doing here?"

"Thos questions will be answered shortly. Tonight, I promise. But now, young warriors, you must go to your rooms. Go on."

An old man, like a sage walking out of nowhere, smiled at the four, watching their hesitant faces relax with kind, calm words. _They must be calm,_ he thought, as they went off to their rooms. _They must be ready to face their duty and adversary, or else all shall fall.

* * *

_

Far away, in the ruined kingdom of Amlador, blast furnaces and iron-works bellowed with fire, as the armories of man poured out war machines and weapons, as slowly, the ghost cities became alive with the feral growls of Imps and Ogres, as the Regent of Amlador looked on. It was time for Coneria to fall, as his kingdom did during the Second Age. Soon, with the strength reforged of the Fiends, Amlador would be strong.


	6. Chapter 5: Diplomacy and Daggers

Chapter Five: Diplomacy and Daggers

In the private chamber where the Kings of Coneria had met with diplomats for ages, the Four stood, silently, each dressed in their proper attire. The two mages, one in white and the other a dark blue, bowed low, along with the thief dressed as a lord and the silent knight. Candles reached out to the depths of the room, lighting it with an overtone of darkness crept in from the shadows of night.

The king stood; there was no throne in the chamber, for it had been custom for the king to stand with others. King Lyr's powerful personality and gracefulness, like a sleek snow leopard, still shone with his graying age. Old kings, like soldiers, never died...they faded away. But Lyr's time was not ripe for that.

He surveyed them with the utmost sincerity, dressed in rich silk and linen, hand not on a scepter but a fine blade. The only jewel he wore was his ring, while his crown was decorated not with diamonds and rubies but stars and moons, carved into the band. His looks were grandfatherly and cautious, experience showing from both the aged lines of his face and the peticularity of his steps. He walked a straight line, back and forth, watching the four.

"Who would have predicted, would have thought, that in all these years of Coneria, the fate of the kingdom lies in the grasp of one old man and four young warriors?" He stopped walking among them, turned, smiling.

"What will the nobles, the lords, and diplomats think when I present with them four warriors, one, just a knight-" he gave Klad an apologetic smile, "two, a mage of magic which has been hated ever since the Fall of our creators, and a third, a common thief of our northern stronghold."

He stopped at the last, looking curiously at the lowered eyes of the black mage. "And last, a mysterious man, also a mage, but who has the looks of the Dark Lords of Amlador and Tekam. Or are you man?" The king's hand reached out, to uncloaked the man, but his hands stopped, as if some invisible force stopped him from lifting the cloak.

"If it pleases your majesty, my eyes are sensitive to the light," Bane said.

Klad reached for his sword, ready to yank the hood away from the mage for his king. But Lyr gently waved away any request for his knight to intervene, and Klad's hand loosened on the hilt of his sword.

"The world has been full of peril, every Age of Gaia's long life. The time when our creators lived and fought against the _Alatari_ seems like myths of the common man of everyday, but now those myths are so close to reality." Lyr sighed, pacing around in the room.

"Ogres and Imps in the Forests of Dearth, marauders and corsairs on the open seas...Tekam and Amlador, newly built and falsely claiming to never ally with the Fiends again, though they build great armies. The old allies gone, Elves and Dwarves unwillingly to venture in the halls of Moon and Stars, and from the Dragons only a story of how they were once at peace with Coneria. Now, just mere fable." The king's voice, strong and powerful, faded to a shadowy whisper, looking out to the crescent moon through the window.

"But my hopes never gave up...until Lukahn informed me that my daughter was gone, captured by one of my most trusted knights of the kingdom. Now, I knew that fate slipped out of the hands of men and into the four of you."

He turned. "The _Prophecies_ have been long forgotten by many, yet the Light Warriors is still attributed to the saviors of this world. And, hopefully, the rescuers of my daughter. Show me the orbs, so I can verify who you are."

Slowly, the four youths, looked at each other, as if a common mind united who they were. Simultaneously, they took their orbs out, each one as black as coal.

The lore-master walked into the room, unannounced and uncaring.

"My apologies, my lord. Forgive me in being late." He turned to the four, as they glanced at him, confused. "Ah, here already. Good."

He looked at each of them, closely, as if reading their minds.

"All of you...have you had...voices inside your head?" Lukahn stroked his long, snowy beard, eyes darting to each of them.

Jakk and Aki nodded furiously, as if trying to shake those constant voices out, but the other mage and the knight inclined their heads into nods. They knew what was happening.

"Who are they, Master Lukahn?"

The lore-master looked at the white mage closely, her red hair hidden under a cloak of white, face as pretty as a blooming rose. _A mage-surgeon's cloak of the Coneria Army, no doubt. All of these warriors are connected to Coneria in some way._

"Each of you, Aki, has the spirit of one of the Friend's inside of you. No, you're not possessed. Call it...enchanted. They have always been part of you, but have recently awoken because of their arch-enemies. The voices you hear...they are part of the _Prophecies._"

The thief stepped forward from their line, face aghast.

"Prophecies, prophecies! That's all I've heard here when I arrived like a convict. I am a common street urchin, not one with the Light...or Dark for that matter." The others in the room looked at him, with no particular expression.

He blurted the question out.

"Who are we?"

Lyr stepped back. "I'll just listen, Lore-master. You're better at explaining this."

Lukahn nodded graciously to the king, and turned back at the four. Looking at the four again, he sighed, and as the king had, started pacing back and forth on the carpet,as soft _swishing _noises were made by the hem of his cloak.

"Though everyone knows, or have read the 'myth' about the creation of this world and our creators, few want to know about the coming battles between the Friends and the Fiends. Many believe it is simply a tale of fiction, and that the Four, along with the help of Coneria, destroyed the Fiends."

Lukahn paused. The youths looked at him intently. _They know this part, in their hearts and souls. They know it, but they do not believe it. Like many of this world, they think it cannot be._

"Such was not the case. The _Tari_ and the _Alatari_ had the same souls, for their Creator made them that way. The only way to defeat the _Alatari_ was to, in essence, destroy the souls of the Friends who made us. Thus, at the Gate of the Temple, they bound themselves into four orbs-" he watched as each looked at their orbs "-similar, but not the same ones you four are wearing."

Bane laughed. "Lore-master, if we were wearing the real orbs, they would be black stones of great size, and our backs would be bent." The black mage quieted to his usual mood. "Besides," he shrugged, "they have never been found."

"You are correct...Bane. The orbs that you have are akin to the four, but they are much larger and heavier in weight. However, your orbs serve as beacons: when all in the world is well, they are lighted, and when the tides turn in favor of the Fiends, they are black. Who are you, you asked, Jakk? You are the warriors that will rescue the world from the domination by the Fiends, the four that were predicted to lead Gaia into the last war against the Fiends with the souls of the Friends inside of you. You are the _Tastar_, the Light Warriors, or so the _Prophecies_ calls them."

A heavy, lingering silence followed.

"And the only way to restore the order is to destroy the Fiends. All of you know this. It is in your heart and mind."

Klad spoke up. "You said our souls, Master Lukahn, are one with the souls of the _Tari_. How can this be, if their souls are already inside the orbs themselves?"

"I should make myself clearer. _Part_ of their souls is intertwined with yours, and the other part inside the orbs, with the souls of the Fiends. If the orbs go black, like they are now, it means that they are winning, inside. Already they can take physical form."

"But how did the souls of the Friends go into ours?" Jakk interrupted.

"All of you are youths, coming of age into the world, the time from the transition of childhood to adulthood. The Friends did not randomly choose four youths to help save the world, nor did not specifically choose four youths. Otherwise, if they had done so, why choose a pickpocket?" Lukahn smiled at Jakk, whose curious eyes suddenly turned angry. "I meant no offense, master thief."

He continued.

"The Friends, in their time, had seen their creations- elves, dwarves, dragons, and men- turned wicked under the spell of time. The only innocence and good they saw was that in children. But they could not chose just four children, for they could not perform the duty. But the transition, from childhood to adult, the coming of age for all youths, the Friends saw they could be selected and not corrupted that others would be. And so...they choose four."

Lukahn laughed, and looked at the king.

"Besides, if they choose old, brave, wise ones like King Lyr and me, we would have to grease our rheumatic joints every few leagues." Lyr chuckled appreciatively.

Giving them another mystical smile, Lukahn bowed, low, to the four. "You four warriors know this. All the knowledge of the _Prophecies_ reside in your mind, with the strength and the will of the Friends. Do not feel that you were not meant for this quest. The Friends chose all of you for a reason. You are all special, in some way. The only need is to decide whether you wish to go on this adventure, to find and destroy the Fiends."

King Lyr spoke from the back of the room.

"I believe you are the true warriors too, my friends. Once I saw those orbs that you carry, I knew, mage or no mage, thief or no thief, that you are the ones to fulfill the endeavor. Tonight I will announce my decision to support you, if you indeed decide to journey. But first, you must rescue my daughter."

The four were dumbfounded, thief, mages, and knight. _Rescue the King's daughter? Save the world? Madness! _Jakk thought, still rolling his orb in the sweaty palm of his right hand. _And yet..._he stared into the fires of volcanic ash that so frequently rose inside..._and yet it may be true..._

_"Maybe it is true." _He blinked. It was the voice again. Bloody hell, he thought, shaking himself minutely so not to attract the attention of others, can a man stop going mad?

Lukahn turned as to leave with rest, but halted and looked at the four.

"There is one other thing. It seems, while reading the _Prophecies,_ that the Friends chose four because they would all have something that connects each other, something that would make them feel closer together. I do not know the connections between a thief of the north, mages of the wilderness, and a young knight of the King's Own, but it seems evident that the _Tari_ had their reasons."

The four exchanged curious looks, walking out of the chamber.

* * *

In the throne room, the biggest chamber in the main wing in the Dream Castle, Lyr watched as presiding diplomats and his various lords and nobles walked in, each puffed in colorful, rich clothes while they puffed out like peacocks of many feathers.

He stood at his throne, impressive in a snowy white and red of cloak, with the embroidery of the kingdom's emblem, while the same emblem was on the gilded onto the breastplate armor he wore, and a long, thin sword by his side. Silently, they gathered, awaiting for him to speak.

"Welcome, delegates from other nations, and lords from Coneria's own empire. May honor and duty grace your days."

The men and women, some a hundred strong, bowed, murmuring their respects. _And probably their curses,_ Lyr mentally noted. There were some still looking for blood, as some of the delegates were looking at the king coolly, not caring to show the respect.

Before he could go on, the duels had already begun.

"Does Coneria now make all bow to her feet," an ambassador said, sneering and walking out from the crowd to the middle of the room, footsteps muffled by exquisite red and gold carpet. The shadow casted from his stature were massive, though the room was well lighted, in some areas.

_Makery Asuion, the oily tongued man from Amlador. _the king thought, looking at the delegate. "And tell us, ambassador Asuion, how does Coneria _make_ others bow, when Amlador herself has amassed an army that is clearly not for defence purposes? I thought our agreement ten years ago settled our war making."

"Have you bothered to step out of your castle, my Lord? While Imps multiply, mighty Coneria shirks from her duties to protect men, and allow creatures of the Fiends to ravage lands from north to south. That is why my kingdom must arm herself, because Coneria will not."

_And meanwhile, you probably make half the weapons the Imps use against us,_ Lyr thought.

A member of the Tekam delegation, his shorter stature marking the only difference between the slippery voices of both, spoke before Lyr could counter.

"And it seems to me, my lord, that Coneria is becoming secretive in her affairs. What hath the King's Own doing so close to the Black Forest? What hath the knights doing in Tranmankand? Tell us, for we are eager to hear...knights from this land do not go so far away from their ruler, for eager are they to betray or protect because the disappearance of the king's very own daughter."

Lyr smiled. Delegate Akhasi Ba'yas had just lead where the King wanted to go.

"A very good question, delegate Ba'yas."

Lyr shrugged nonchalantly, as if telling all the lords and delegates that the Fiends were loosened were not a big deal.

"The Light Warriors have been summoned. The Fiends are loosened," he stated, simply. Chaos broke out in the room.

* * *

The gleam of the sword as it was oiled to perfection never failed to amaze the knight, as slowly, he cleaned his sword with precision. It was well over midnight, just a few hours after the Lore-master and the king spoke to the four. He watched the blade's shine. The sword was nothing special, save that it was marked with the symbols of his own House, the Haasions.

_Marquis Ryar "Klad," of House Haasions, _he thought, shaking his head.

Klad did not like his name, or his title.

He grimaced. He was a lord without a manor, a knight in a foreign kingdom, never born in Coneria, just bred. And that last line of the _Prohepcies_ irked him too, _dark may he be..._still stuck in his mind, repeating softly, over and over.

But whatever his past was, his fate was sealed, and whether the others would go or not, he would. The Fiends would die, at the sword point of one Light Warrior or four.

Carefully, Klad laid his sword on his bed, in the northwest wing of the Dream Castle, and lifted his armor, slowly burnishing it with a clean rag.

A scream, more out of surprise than fear, erupted from the other side of the corridor.

Klad went into action, grabbing his sword and opening his door to where the shouting was coming from. _The white mage's room,_ Klad thought. From an adjacent room, the thief appeared, alarmed with a rapier. Klad nodded to him, and kicked the half-opened door to Aki's dormitory.

The black mage was already there, standing over the body of a man, wearing dark clothing of Coneria cut, and limply holding a longsword. Aki had a cudgel in her hands, the knight noted surprisingly. The other mage had a long, thin knife, dripping with blood. Slowly, he wipe off it off on the dead man's clothing, glowing yellow eyes looking intently at the other two men.

"It seems like someone has already discovered that the Light Warriors have indeed returned. And that person, or persons, does not want them to," Bane said, sheathing his dagger in the folds of his cloak.

Klad lowered his sword and nodded. "So you have decided to come?"

"Of course. Otherwise, I would not have braved five weeks of sea when the _Alatari_ Kraken is loose about in the seas."

"And you two?"

The white mage and thief gave no answer.


	7. Chapter 6: Warriors of the Light

Chapter Six: Warriors of the Light

_"Warriors, revive the power of the ORBS!" _

Final Fantasy I

The vampire skillfully evaded any of the guards inside the Dream Castle, to do the job that should have been given to him in the first place by his Master. Impertinent fools! How could a simple cutthroat, pick up from the streets of this City of Fools, do the simple jobs of killing the Four Warriors, blessed with the Light! The man had failed miserably, paying with his own miserable life.

The vampire opened the door to one of the rooms. The white mage's. It was best to start with the blood of a female; the ambrosia was so much sweeter. The vamp felt a surge of an uncontrollable ecstasy. The morn was still early, and hardly everyone was still asleep.

But as he closed to the bed of the mage, he could see the bed was empty. He rushed to the others. All empty. Nothing was there. A growl shook his vocal cords, as his pointy teeth clicked. Another day of hunger. At least he knew that they had begun their journey. So, the four of the Light would try to save the whole of Gaia through destroying the Fiends. Chuckling silently in his mind, he thought how good pure blood would take...the vamp would meet them, sooner or later. He licked his lips. He would taste their blood. Sometime.

* * *

_Lukahn nodded as the four bowed. It was early in the morning, so early that even the black mage, almost always alert and wary, looked as though bed was the best comfort for his soul. Jakk turned his head towards the tall windows. The sun had not risen from her vast bed. _

_"Your best hope is to go northeast, where the Temple of the Fiends lie, beyond the Black Forest. We have scouting reports that Garland is holding my daughter captive there." Lyr looked closely at the four. "It may sound strange that you four must rescue my daughter to save the world, but I can find none who are willing to do so. Except for you four." The king standing, suddenly bowed._

_"Go with the grace of the Conerian Kingdom and of the love of Light, Warriors." _

_"...and so the four horses rode out from the Dream City, each rider carrying an orb, coal black...their journey was upon them."_

Hearing those distant voices in his mind, Jakk shook his head violently, wanting them to stop. Those voices, or sometimes it was that voice, came into the thief's mind every time he reminisced, reminding him what he was here for.

"How far?" Jakk gasped on his horse, _Basyi_, or Trickster, as she galloped at her top pace, dun colored skin rippling brillantly as her muscles worked, and her breath panted. The white-washed stone walls that were joined by the Gate of Dreams began to fade in the distance, and the forest began to near, as they rode hard towards the Temple of Fiends, northeast of the city. _Was it wrong for me to do this?_

The four had decided to come before the sun was up, and before the vampire had time to use his fangs to bring them into the world of the undead, for Bane warned that whoever wanted them dead might not wait soon to try.

The thief had come for not just a few reasons. An urchin from the streets would not easily picked up from the streets, dressed as a lord, and told he was one that would save the world. _And, of course, it would be better for me to be a Light Warrior than no warrior at all. At least I don't have to worry when my next meal will come from...and saving the world, cursed Warrior or not, is not a bad thing. _

He shrugged again as his thoughts ran wildly through his brain, like Basyi was going. He leaned down, spoke a few soft words to the horse's ear, calming him and telling him to follow the lead with Klad's stallion. Basyi was the first thing he had stole...who knows what treasures he would find on this journey, as the black mage's horse neared his.

"How far, thief? A day's worth of hard journeying, along the paths seldom used before the shattering of the world. Beware of the Imps that lurks the Black Forest!" The black mage that came up to him cackled harshly, riding on his horse, almost as black as the orb they each carried.

Even as the horse galloped, the mage's clothes and hat did not bobble up and down to the horse, and it looked as though he was sitting still. Jakk managed a gasp before turning to his own thoughts: _how is it I know when, where, and what the shattering of the world is? _

Up ahead, Aki's delicate mare, Rose, was matching Klad's horse for speed. Aki, too, had decided to come, though not to seek treasure or glory. It was to protect her village, not far from the Temple of Fiends, and too far to go now.

Her dream had been vivid, with the _Prophecies_ singing in her ears as she slept for the few hours they left after the attempted assassination. Her village, on fire. People massacred, children's bodies piled on top of each other.

Imps ran wild, looting, as ogres wielding stout clubs clubbed villagers down. Houses burnt, people dead...it was vivid, and all too real...and the song of the Light Warriors hummed in her mind...

_they know they must fulfill the journey or succumb,_

_and all the world with them will come, in shadow and darkness, _

_of dearth and despair..._

_for that will be all, if fair Gaia falls into uncare._

She shivered. It was her duty to go with these Warriors and protect her village from evils. And she could feel the bonds between each, even the thief and mage. They were not evil, and she could sense nothing rotten in their hearts, only grim determination or confusion. If she did not come, those bonds that seemed to be forged long ago would fail, and the world would be turned over to the hands of the Fiends.

"Bad dreams?" Klad said, riding over to her. He was in his plated armor, breastplate forged from steel, with a longsword by his side. Underneath that was a leather jerkin with sleeves, with high boots and trousers fit for hard riding.

His cloak, with its delicate embroidery laced with stars and moon, and sword, was under a field of red and white, catching a strong wind, flowed with it like a massive scarlet bird.

Aki nodded her head at the knight's question. He looked thoughtful, as their horses slowed down, trying to conserve their energy. The other horses too, came to a gradual pace.

"My nightmares were bad too, like yours. I never dreamed that I would here, four warriors with orbs that are the saviors of this world." He laughed. "I, like you, mage Akian Arkya, am very young. We are all so: youthful yet aged with the wisdom of our creators."

"And how old are you, Klad?" She hesitated for a second before saying his real name, as he had said hers. _But how did he know?_ "How did you know, that I am only a youth, spending only seventeen years in this world? Ryar?"

He glanced at her sharply. "We all know who we are. We are bonded to each other, whether we enjoy it or not, for we are...Warriors. But some secrets are still concealed." His hand went for his sword. He glanced slowly at the black mage, riding quietly behind them, glowing yellow eyes hiding beneath his robes of flowing blue. Aki glanced at the knight while he looked: his face seemed to be honed with a sword, tanned from endless fencing practices in the courtyards of Coneria, and it, like all other knights, mingled an aura of bravery, honor, dedication and pride. But this pride was unbreakable, and in his eyes she saw the blend of sadness and hope in the hazel orbs.

And she realized she was staring.

Cursing, she turned away and looked ahead, as the forest darkened and covered them from the sun, the foliage of dark leaves and branches hiding it from their view. The only path that lead out of it, made long ago by the elves who had first settled here, lead to the Temple.

And still, there was a shiver in her spine. The knight...if anything, she secretly thought, blushing, she had come to be with him.

"Be on your guard here," Klad warned, unsheathing his sword, decorated with the symbol of his House: a single gryfon, long flames spouting from its steel mouth. He held it in his gauntleted hands carefully, looking at the shadows of the forest. The thief did the same: a long rapier given to him by the king. Aki had her hammer, her trademark weapon, and three good throwing knives.

"Then let us stop. We cannot let the horses go on; they are already wearied." Bane leapt off lightly from his horse. "Ryar. We must stop for awhile. Haste is never prescribed for those wearied by the early sunrise."

Reluctantly, the knight stopped his stallion, and gently hopped down. Dead leaves crunched beneath his feet, as more leaves from a tall oak rustled.

Jakk jumped off Basyi, uncaring for the hidden dangers of the forest. His rapier was at his side, his eyes on Aki. He had a maddening sense that they both knew each other, in some way, though they were hundreds of leagues apart before they met. He watched her curiously, as she got off her horse awkwardly and dropped to the ground on her back, unnoticed by the wary knight and black mage.

He ran over to her, as she struggled to her feet, white cloak betraying her feet.

"Here," he said, lending her a hand.

The mage touched it, and the thief let out in inaudible gasp. Her hands were unlike anything he had ever felt, searing cold, making his tanned skin feel like it had been stung by those icicles that he used to buy in Tranmandkand's bazaar to lick on those burning days.

The young girl smiled as she rose to her feet, her soft leather boots cracking twigs. The noise, though barely audible, made giant echoes in the forest, alerting any creatures of intruders.

"A mage's touch is different from others," Aki said, smiling softly as Jakk let go of her hand. Jakk returned the smile.

Mages were not often liked, and often distrusted anywhere, because magical spells and incantations were not understood, for whatever good it did. Jakk didn't mind. This white mage, whatever magic she could do, was a woman, and since the journey was to be long, it was best to make...friends with her, Jakk thought.

"It's no different than any other woman...especially as lovely as you," Jakk cooed, puffing his expansive muscles. He grinned, handsomely, dimples noticeable. His tactics of luring women had worked with ladies of Tranmandkand before, and enrapturing this girl of a village wouldn't be so hard...

But Aki had seen this idiotic flattering before, meant to lure her to bed with some lonely woodcutter. Her smile, dimpled like Jakk, harden into a frown.

"If you think-"

Klad came up behind her and softly covered her mouth in desperation, to muffle the noise, but it was too late. Another rustle came from the woods that surrounded the party and their horses, and then a pack of wolves leapt out from the dense brush, from all sides.

One gauntlet still petrified on Aki's mouth, Klad's other gauntleted hand came to his sword, easily and smoothly off its sheath. He pushed Aki away from her, while neatly stopping a wolf's bite to his throat with a slash to the mouth.

His other hand balled into a fist, and crumpled the wolf completely with a blow.

All around him, other wolves were causing chaos, as the horses went wild with fear as wolves ran between them, biting at the hinds.

Klad swept the legs off of another wolf and called to Jakk.

"Jakk, get to those horses! We can't let them run off, not while we're in the middle of this forest." The thief nodded, ducking under a leaping wolf and pulling out his rapier.

In the middle of the confusion, the black mage calmly blasted holes and sizzled fur, as his palms glowed a bright red and expanded into fireballs, blasting the creatures down.

Aki wanted to go after the horses too, but she was in the middle of the melee, entrapped by wolves with Bane and Klad fighting them off.

The black mage, still calmly blasting wolves, looked at Aki with a semblance of a smile.

"If you wish to help us, milady, you can kindly get out that hammer of yours, or move out of the way," the mage said, startling Aki with a mock bow and dripping sarcasm.

But before she could do anything, the black mage had already ended it.

Fire shot from the mage's palms and into the surrounding brush, creating a firestorm that caressed the wolves. They stopped their attack and began leaping back into the forest, howling as their fur was scorched by the flame. But as the last wolf leapt off, the fire disappeared, magically leaping back into the hands of the mage and vanishing.

Klad nodded his thanks, his hair singed and face dirty with soot. The sword was stained with dark blood.

Bane, for once, looked exhausted, magic taking a toll on his energy. "Mage," he drawled, "you are supposed to be a healer. Let's see your healing powers now, since we are all drained of what strength we need."

Aki put his hand in hers, and closed her eyes, as their palms glowed. It was a trick her father taught her, when he was on the battlefields with Coneria's armies.

_"Feel their spirit with yours,"_ he had said, _"and give them a boost of energy to rejuvenates them. More than one man has died at the sickles of an Imp because their spirit cannot continue." _

She let go, intent on seeing Klad renewed as well, but he shook his head as he leaned on his sword. "Not now. The wolves will bring more of their kin to attack us next. Save your energy, Aki, for later. For now, we must ride." He turned to Jakk. "Skyaar, get those horses over here. We ride."

Obediently, he led the four, including Klad's war stallion, Strider, towards the four from a tree where they were tethered.

As they mounted, the black mage had a troubled eye looking towards the citadel they were about to face.

"Something is directing all of these forces-- wolves and assassins, to hinder our goal. Mayhaps it is one of the fiends," he murmured.

They rode, galloping forward and not wanting to expose any other traps laid on their way.

At the gates of Coneria, another lone horseman began riding northwest, to the newly built bridge to the northern world, to Tranmandkand and beyond. It was Luhkan, the lore-master. Not only was it time for the Light Warriors to go on their quest, it was time for him to go to his.

"To Pravoka, and then on to Crescent Lake," he murmured to his horse.

_Author's Note: Keeping to the Final Fantasy storyline, I'll be adding some quotes and dialogue from the Final Fantasy I characters...old-time Final Fantasy I players will know all of these quotes. And yes, I intentionally named Klad's horse Strider after the ranger Strider of Lord of the Rings._


	8. Chapter 7: Citadel of the Four

Chapter Seven: Citadel of the Four

_"No one touches my princess! Light warriors? You impertinent fools. I, Garland, will knock you all down!" _

Garland, Final Fantasy I

"It seems like we have reached our destination," Jakk said, looking ahead and up at the citadel. They were awestruck by the site: here, only a league's clearing out of the dark forests, a massive temple of stone and metal rose out, jagged teeth of spires towering over the sea, a dark bastion in the middle of the world.

A lone gate was the only egress to the Temple of Fiends, and as the Warriors neared it, uneasy thoughts came back to their minds, as they wondered what they were doing. But Klad strode forward, shaking off any thoughts. The others followed his example.

"Leave the horses outside. They have enough wit not to run off, especially after the wolves." Getting off his horse, Klad gave Strider a pat, and drew his sword.

"Let's get this over with, quickly," he said, grimly. He walked to the entrance, pushing open the gates and disappearing into the gloom of the stone archway.

Jakk and Aki looked at each other dubiously, but then the thief put his hand on his slim rapier and nimbly ran inside.

"Ready, Aki?" The mage was feeling something up his sleeve: a knife. His voice was hoarse and low, but still radiated a gentle calm.

The young girl sighed, once, and nodded to her companion. "Ready."

They walked inside.

* * *

The Vampire didn't like hot places like the Gurgu Volcano. Of course, he had no choice but to obey. His creators were inside, and they could easily uncreate him as they created him.

_Is it done? _

The pale skinned man stopped in his tracks, as he entered the main chamber, lava fountains spewing gently in vertical flows of hot liquid, while pumice were sculpted in figures of the four warriors of Light. Kary, the Fire Fiend, enjoyed creature comforts.

But that voice...no, _those_ voices. He hated them. The _Alatari_ liked to play tricks on the minds of their creations, speaking to them telepathically than use their mouths.

He bowed, low, and just once, as the four Fiends lounged around in the main chamber, Kary, in the center, sitting on a throne. She had taken the form of a woman with multiple arms and long, wheat colored hair. The slender body was fiery red, a color that couldn't be matched by any other crimson. It almost burned the Vamp's eyes to look at it.

The other Fiends had their forms too: Tiamat, as a many headed snake, Kraken, as a Naga, a serpentine body with a man's head, and Lich, a resurrected skeleton of a long dead princess of Tekam, ghostly orbs on a skeletal head with a tiara on her head.

The Vamp smiled. _They cannot yet take much physical form._ It was true. The Fiends, like their counterparts, the Friends, were only phantoms, ghosts, spirits, that had no physical shape unless it was one of their creations, like a Naga or the other beasts that the _Alatari_ had used so effectively during the First Age, in the Shattering of the World.

"Well, is it?" The Naga hissed, it's watery-blue body moving back and forth. "I wish to get out of this hell-hole and back into _my_ habitat."

"Really? Is it too harsh for you, all this fire and ash?" Kary retorted, taking a fiery flame sword and slicing one of the dummies of a Light Warrior into a pile of ash.

"Your creatures are born and bred of fire, and cannot do much else, unlike the seas, which are not created but there. Fire _must _be created, and therein lies your weakness," Kraken shot back.

Before Kary could add more to the flames, Tiamat cut in, a head moving towards the arguing pair. "Silence, you fools of another age!" Flames and water being doused by the Air Fiend, who was the oldest and strongest of the four, he reared another head towards the undead. "Lich, what have your spies to report? And you, Vampire?"

Lich bowed. She was the most obedient of the three Fiends, the earth's longevity and patience in all things rendering her patient and cunning as well.

"Spies from Amlador and Tekam report that the Four have left the city grounds and moved north, to our old sanctuary, our Temple. Garland has taken the princess there. There are also unusual reports that the Sages have begun moving from all over the world to Crescent Lake."

Tiamat nodded with his main head. "They have been warned then, that the Fiends have been loosed. Probably by Lukahn, that old fool. And you, Vampire?"

"My lord, the _Tari_ chose the most bland to be these...warriors. One is a lowly knight guarding the Dream Castle, another a thief. The third, a healer of a backwoods village. The fourth, the black mage..." The Vamp frowned, his front teeth showing dramatically.

"The fourth is unknown to me, yet his own companions know not of where he is from."

The Four turned their heads to the Undead. "Unknown?" Kary said, almost to herself. "Where did he come from?

The Vamp frowned again. "A ship captain said he was from the Blighted Lands, brought by the king."

Kary had stopped her musing, her red orbs opening wider, as she turned to Tiamat. "Surely it cannot be..."

The many headed serpent shook his head. "If he is, then so be it. We will kill them all, without a doubt."

Kraken spoke up, his sluggish voice suddenly turning slithery as his body. "Why kill them?" he asked, sliding forward and avoiding a gush of lava pouring from a fountain. "Why not make _use_ of them, turn them to _our _advantage?'

Lich laughed, bones clinking together to form a surreal rhythmic pounding. "Are you suggesting that we try to defect the Warriors that have the souls of our antitheses? We would be mad to try." Her sharp eyes turned towards Tiamat, rattling furiously. "Best to kill them and conquer this world we have been stuck on for millenias."

"We turned the kings of Amlador and Tekam to our side...would it be so hard to do the same with these wretched fools? They are nothing special, nothing of high blood, only a thief, soldier, and two mages," Kraken retorted.

Tiamat nodded.

"They may be used, yet. If it is possible, it would be best to pursue that course, instead of killing them." He looked at the other three of his kin. "It would make our conquest of Gaia much easier."

He motioned to the Vampire for his new tasks.

* * *

Jakk stood motionless at the door of the alcove, wanting to quietly edge out of the dungeon. The two mages were there too, watching the clash of metal upon metal reverberate across the chamber, two Knights of Coneria fighting furiously.

Once all four had entered the Temple, they had not been greeted by what they didn't want: no Garland with his sword, no undead creatures, no Imps. Just the uneasy feeling of something ahead and a musty smell wafting through their nostrils, while another door not twenty paces ahead of them emerged from the gloom.

All of them seemed to be drawn to that door, that large, cryptic room with its iron hinges and brass handles gleaming, as if recently polished, though no one, except for Garland and the Princess had been there for thousands of years. Klad seemed to know what lay ahead. With one had on the hilt of his sword, he walked to the wide doors and pushed them open.

With candles dimly lit inside, the chamber revealed Sara, Princess of Coneria, bound and unconscious in an rocky throne in the center, behind a stone plate intricately decorated with the Fiends themselves, and their former adobes.

And then Garland came, jumping out from the shadows, a mask disguising his face, his purple cape flapping...Klad parried a blow meant to decapitate all of the party's heads with his own sword, and leapt into the fray.

_And that's where we're at now..._Jakk thought, stilled numbed by the two knights fighting.

The black mage wanted to help the knight, but he was hesitating and unsure where to cast his spell as they clashed.

"He's distracting Garland so we can rescue the Princess," Aki murmured, grasping the situation.

"Then Jakk, you go and rescue her," Bane said.

Jakk awoke from his dream like state, and choked. "What? Me? I'm...a thief! I can't get across those two!"

"You said you are a thief, Jakk. Does that not apply here, when we need the most nimblest of our group to get across? Besides," Aki said, smiling, "our robes would not hasten our step." Five bats, flittering around in the shadows of the cave, seemed to echo the serious amusement of Aki, cheerfully flying inside the chamber. Bane gave them a long look, as if reminiscing, and then turned his stare at the two knights fighting not twenty paces from them.

Jakk started...and then regained his composure, nodding, and then proceeding to dash off, as the two mages watched anxiously.

Meanwhile, Klad and Garland thrusted and parried each others' blows, waltzing away from each other as in a dance to the death. "Their fighting is evenly matched, whoever tutored them in the art of sword fighting did it well," Bane commented, now calm, hands at his sides as he watched them fight. Quickly, Jakk ran behind to two, reaching the stony throne where Sara sat limp and unmoving.

Garland saw this, as he threw Klad on the ground, and turning his sword on the running Jakk.

Calmly, Bane lifted his palms from the depths of his dark blue robes, whispered an incantation, and bolts of lightning exploded from his palms, catching Garland's armor and burning flesh into a delicate crisp. He let out a shriek, let go of his sword, and crumpled, smoke fuming from the armor plates and his mask.

Jakk hesitated, and then lowered himself to remove the mask, but the Knight's strong arm stopped.

"Don't. It's not need. We've done our task." He motioned to the still-form of Sara. "We must get her out."

And swiftly they left the bastion of the Fiends, leaving the body of Garland in the chamber besides the stone plate, and five bats nervously brooding on the ceiling.


	9. Chapter 8: Garland's Beginnings

Chapter Eight: Garland's Beginnings

_"And so, their journey begins...What await the Four, they do not know..."_

Final Fantasy I

Jakk stood on the edge of a dream.

He faintly remembered the newly built bridge that the party crossed...what was amazing to him was how beautiful Sara, Swan-Princess of the Moon and Stars, was. Especially after that kiss she gave him for his dashing rescue.

He was on the tip of his dreaming...but then the dream turned upside down as Basyi whined at the tightness the daydreaming Jakk was holding her harness. She shook her body to alert him, but Jakk's grip was not tight enough. The young thief fell to the ground, head-first, dream-like state gone and replaced by three Warriors laughing.

"Not funny," he muttered, getting himself up. Basyi snorted.

"A kiss by Princess Sara means nothing, Jakk. Don't let it get to you." Klad said, giving him a hand, already reading his thoughts.

"Maybe not," the youth said, flexing his aching muscles. "but a kiss is a kiss, and being kissed by a Princess doesn't come often, does it?"

Klad shook his head, but he was already lost in his own thoughts. The vastness of the northern territory stood in front of them, with rising stretches of desert where Tranmankand was, to hilly forests of green. To the north, the City of Thieves lay, and beyond, the Cave of the Witches. To the south, before the arch-bridge Lyr had built for easier access to the north, lay Coneria. Its glimmering spikes of tall towers still could be seen...faintly, as if in a dream.

But their route was to the east, to Pravoka, the last port-city willing to travel the Fiend controlled Aldi Seas.

After their rescue of the Princess, they had proceeded directly on with their journey, seeing that Luhkan had already left the city and gone to Pravoka.

_Seek advice in those you trust, but stray from those who seek to help you too much,_ Luhkan had last said to them. It was his advice they sought.

"Come, warriors," Klad said, smiling over the bustling wind. "We again, make haste to our goal. We ride to Pravoka!"

He stirred Strider on, and they rode, along the path to the port city.

A rider followed, clothed in black and green to blend into the forest colors.

* * *

Astos watched slowly as the Prince slowly slipped on to his bed, and sighed, deep in a slumber. A slumber he would never wake from; the deep draught which would be his death with life. Quickly, the Dark-Elf took the cup from the Elf-Prince, emptied the contents, and mixed the blood of the Prince with a potion from his vial. And then he drank.

The plan was so simple, so brilliant! It would secure his power and provide an army to conquer the ends of the world.

Carefully, he took the Prince's hand and said an incantation. First, the hand slowly vanished, blending into the depths of the room, and the rest of Prince Elles' body disappeared. Crudely, Astos shoved him into the closet, right after the door knocked.

"Come," he said, in the Elles' voice. Before the door opened, Astos looked into the mirror, pleased to see fair hair and face of none other than the Prince himself, with the green garb marking him Prince of Elfland. And no one except his own Dark Elf clan knew who he really was.

It was time for this world to fall.

* * *

They sat, silently, as fire flew from Bane's hands to the clump of dry plants and wood. Instantly, a fire rose, blazing merrily and flickering into the faces of the Warriors.

"So odd," Aki said, almost to herself, as she watched the flames flicker in front of her.

"What is?" Jakk asked, curiously, sharpening his rapier with a grindstone. It seemed like after a few days with the mage, they had started to grow on each other, with a feeling of mutual respect, without the flirtations that Jakk had impressed on the young woman.

She looked up at him, and then at Klad. "How is it that two men, from the same Guard, can turn out so different? One, a warrior, the other, a betrayer? It seems not real."

"Garland never betrayed anyone. He was not evil. But he believed that, in the end, Chaos, from the Four Fiends, were to take command of Gaia," Klad said in a low voice.

The others looked up.

"What do you mean!" Jakk responded, dropping the stone. "He tried to kill you."

Klad gave a shrug, looking out to the stars.

"He was once my mentor, not a bad knight, by Coneria standards. He, like Luhkan, was a lore-master and philosopher. But his searches, to find the ultimate truth, he came to a different conclusion than Luhkan: that the universe was made from the Creator's chaos, ruled by chaos and fate, not order, and so it must be conquered by chaos, from the energies that made the _Alatari_. This, he believed was the truth. He never intended to keep his philosophy secret, and so he preached about his ideas. People were disgusted that a knight, the protector of the Kingdom, would betray the hope of many. In the court of the King, he was given the name _Damdrilli_, Betrayer of Light and Hope. Then he was demoted him to Master-of-Arms, a lowly position for a person who had such power as an adviser to the King, and he was forever bitter."

Klad's voice had gone hoarse. The others looked quietly into the flames.

"And so in revenge, he kidnapped the King's daughter," Jakk surmised.

The knight nodded.

"So," Jakk said, hopefully and conversationally, "what is our next move? Journeying to Pravoka is fine, for I have never been there, but to do what?"

Bane threw a stick into the fire and shrugged.

"My only concern is defeating the Fiends. Pravoka will gain us access to the rest of the world, since they alone are brave, or stupid enough to journey these waters. Even the Conerian Fleet does not even do that."

Aki pursed her lips into a red rosebud shape, deep in thought..._and making her very attractive,_ Klad thought, eyes widening.

"I have heard legends concerning the coming of the Light Warriors." She took off the hood that hid her fiery hair, giving a grateful nod as the knight handed her a cup of tea.

"They would be the last to unite the Tari's creatures under one banner, to defeat the Fiends. And we need information from the Lore-master and any others who can locate the whereabouts of the Fiends. Getting a ship would make this easier."

Jakk crackled his knuckles out of an old habit, frowning.

"Diplomacy with the Dwarves? Pacts with the Dragons? I'm not sure any of us are experienced with politics. Even our omniscient mage." He sneered, throwing a look at Bane.

"I am of Elvish blood. I know some of their ways," Bane responded, quietly sipping his tea. "I may be of use if we go to Elfland."

The other three, surprised, look at him, silently sipping their drinks.

"By the hands of the Creator!" Aki said, laughing softly, peering into the flames. "We are really fighting the Fiends. I have been living a dream for the past three days, and finally, I realize what we are doing " She shook her head sadly.

"Take comfort in the fact our creators were wise enough entrust this planet in our hands. Otherwise, our own ignorance would have been the downfall of this world," Klad responded, surprised at the mage's outburst. She had been quiet and reserved about the journey.

"We will rest. Tomorrow is the journey to Pravoka, and then to Elfland. There, we must gain the support of the Prince. Light Warriors and blessed may we be, but we are still mortal, and death will come as quickly from a feral bite of a wolf as an assassin's arrow. An alliance and host we need, and the Prince will help us."

Bane nodded in agreement. "I have no knowledge of where any of the Fiends might be. Perhaps the Elves will help us find them."


	10. Chapter 9: Unexpected Visits

Chapter Nine: Unexpected Visits

_"Aye, I am Bikke the Pirate, and surprised I am that you scurvy dogs have the nerve to face me! Mates! Get those landlubbers!"_

Bikke the Pirate, Final Fantasy I

On a hill, they gazed out at the vast expanse of the Port of Pravoka. The deep and large harbor, adjacent to the city, was almost enclosed by two jutting spikes of land, opening only a fraction to the seas. On top of those thin tendrils of land were two massive spires, watchtowers almost identical to the behemoth lighthouse of Coneria.

"Relics of another age," Klad murmured, as all of them gaped at the towers, the cool fresh blue sparkles of the Aldi were reflected on the white skin lighthouses, somehow making the grandeur and beauty more surreal to the four. But something else turned that beauty into a warning.

Dozens of ships, from small schooners to giant voyage craft, filled the port, seeming to be pushed into the city by the waves of the Aldi Seas. But one thing stood out most: a fleet of black masted warships, skull and bones painted distinctively on the sides.

"Has Pravoka always been subject to buccaneers?" Aki asked, in a strangled, surprised voice.

"Never. A consul is elected and steps down every five years. He or she is their leader, along with the Council, a group of hundred elected representatives, speaking for the citizens." Klad drew his sword, as Strider buckled nervously beneath him.

"This is new. We will enter, but carefully."

The others nodded.

As they proceeded at a trot, tethering their horses to forest trees surrounding, the four walked, watching as the city grew near, sprawling into a giant network of houses and buildings. Unlike many cities of the age, Pravoka had no city walls, no gate. The sea was the only banner against the wild, and forests the only marker between civilization and the savagery.

The small white-washed houses and cheery-faced buildings greeting them as the cleared the last expanse of fir trees were blackened by soot and grim, but others were unaffected, as if a fire had spared a random network of houses.

As they dismounted, Jakk felt another weight sag onto his shoulders. He just wanted to go to the nearest inn, flirt with a maid, and hop in bed with her. But he felt another side of him, the spirit that he had never felt before, tug on his rapier at his side, unsheathing it. Reluctantly, Jakk let the spirit do its thing, as the knight went over to the nearest house, carefully tapping the door. It opened at once.

"Yes, milord..." The women, her graying hair and dark eyes tired, muffled a gasp as her eyes widened, as realization poke through her that these weren't the pirates.

She looked out of her doorway, looking past Klad as if to really check there was no one there, hiding behind them.

"We do not come to hurt you, just to satisfy our curiosity. Where is the Consul? What are those pirate ships..." Klad's voice trailed off as the lady motioned him to be silent and come in. He nodded, entering with Bane. In a corner table inside the house, a sloppy pirate laid in a chair, both eyes with patches, snored loudly. As soon as the warriors entered, the corsair awoke with a shout, getting his crossbow lying on the table. At once, he fell back, gurgling and clutching his neck, where a knife protruded.

"Kyzoku," Bane hissed.

"Bless you," Jakk said, humorously, walking in; his eyes widened at the dead pirate.

The host breathed a sigh of relief, turning her head and bowing to the four.

"Thank you," she murmured, frowning at the dead pirate.

Smoke rose from his clothes, as if steam came off from the body, but slowly, flesh sagged and disappeared. Vanishing into the air, leaving on the crossbow and clothes behind.

"Kyzoku," Bane growled again. "More creations of Kraken."

"Interesting..." Jakk stammered.

"They are the ocean version of imps, Jakk, inhabiting dead men's bodies, transforming them into eyeless corsairs that have an acute sense of smell. This one must have sensed us because we give off a stink from a mile off." Bane looked and sniffed at Klad's armor. "A scented bath may not do a Knight of Coneria any harm right now, Master Knight."

"That can be arranged," the woman said, smiling.

* * *

Alee Ocusu was still shaken as she brought tea to her four guests, recently refreshed from their bathes upstairs. And what fortunate guests they were! Or perhaps most unfortunate. Though they saved her from the pirate, they would never be able to defeat all hundreds of the Kyzoku festering in Pravoka. But, then again, these were no ordinary visitors.

They were all young, in their late teens, but each held him or herself up as a mature adult. The handsomest, perhaps a young lord, was the most easygoing, cracking a grin every time she walked by. The other man, a knight or mercenary by his armament, was grim, locked in deep thought. The third, a white mage, had only revealed her flaming hair and frosty, pale face when she had removed her hood. Ocusu recognized that white cloak covering the mage as the uniform of mage-surgeons. Impossible! Besides being too young, mages were despised by the public, their magic tainted with the witchcraft of the _Alatari_, and many were killed. The fourth, a black mage, was a conundrum. He refused to remove his pointed, straw-colored hat, and his body was covered with a black-blue robe, stiflingly hot for such a sunny day.

She brought the tea to the four sitting at the table, where they helped to clear the desk of the jumbled plates of food the pirate had ordered her to make, as it stood as a guard. Almost all houses had a guard, just to make sure everyone was kept under watch. _But what will they do if they find out someone has killed my guard?_

She served the lord first.

"Tea, milord."

The young man's smile suddenly turned into a surprised stammer of hasty words.

"I'm not a lord, mistress Alee, must a simple thie-"

The other man eyed him sharply, and the lord managed to twist his words. "-just a rich merchant's son. Please, call me Jakk," he said, taking the tea gratefully. Alee nodded.

"And you-" she glanced at the grim man.

"Lieutenant, lady. I am a lieutenant of the Conerian Knights."

"Ah, then you are all from Coneria then?" Ocusu said brightly. At least now she could have a sense where these people came from. She served the mages and quickly sat down.

"Yes, though not all of us were born there," Jakk said, winking at the rest of the strange group.

They sipped their tea silently, before Alee continued.

The soldier responded quickly.

"I guess I should better start to fill my curiosity. Who are you all?"

"Travelers, Mistress Ocusu. We seek passage from Provoka over to Elfland. Even the Port of Coneria is close, and we thought that the Provokians would supply us with a ship still good enough to brave the seas, Tari willing."

"Pravoka is willing, of course." She snorted, shaking her head in disbelief, deciding it better not to ask why four young people in these forsaken days would travel. "Too willing. A pirate ship, disguised as a merchant trading vessel, came here a few days ago. Guards were lax, and they killed them and opened the gate at night. A flotilla of ships came in, and attacked the city, and capturing the Consul."

Klad frowned. "I saw no gate at the city."

Alee smiled. "It is a gate under the sea, Lieutenant. It can be raised in times of defense, to prevent ships getting through without sinking first. Our city's defense lay to the water, where fleets can cross."

_But armies can cross on land too,_ Klad thought.

"So there are no ways to get a ship?"

"No, unless you speak to Consul Seelan. She might be able to smuggle you on something. The pirates are too, very lax about security, despite their posting of a Kyzoku in everyone's home. Once they have their plunder, they will go away."

Out of the corner of his eye, Klad saw Bane shake his head. He understood. These were no ordinary pirates, they were here to stay. They were waiting for them.

* * *

Sharks were among the favorites of water fiend's creatures, as he was in his favorite form, a many-legged half-squid, half-octopus. It was called a Kraken, and he had name himself that because he knew the people of this world would respect it.

_What news? _he said, looking at the shark's tiny eyes.

_Your Kyzokus have captured Pravoka, and are waiting for the Light Warriors to come. We also have word that a Dark-Elf has secretly taken throne of Elfland and is making war with neighboring territories. _

Kraken frowned. The _Betar_ surely would have arrived to the port by now.

_They have not come?_

_No, my lord._

_Strange. Tell Bikke that he is under strict orders to capture them, not kill. He can make sport of the city's women after they are found, but not now. _He paused, wondering if humans were at all able to fight well against his creations. _The casualties?_

_Light. Your Kyzokus slaughtered the guards. _

_Good. This world is ready to fall. They have abandoned hope, and with it, the Light Warriors.

* * *

_

Quietly, Jakk slipped out of Mistress Ocusu's house as the sun rose. The palace of the Consul laid far ahead, at the very heart of Pravoka. Near it, a small golden dome, the roof of the Council, the meeting place for the one hundred representatives and the Consul, stood, representing the politics of the city-state of Pravoka. And, apparently, the same meeting place for Sibikken the Corsair, the leader of the eyeless Kyzokus.

The city streets were quiet; that was to be expected for this time of day. Even the Kyzoku seemed to be gone, hidden in every house, unaware that a thief was stealing away into the morning sunrise, headed for the Consul.

If he could ever find her.

Beforehand, the four had agreed on one thing: the Kyzokus attack on Pravoka was no coincidence. They came right after Luhkan departed and right before they came. It was the Fiends' work the Kyzokus had come, probably creations of Kraken. And so getting out of Pravoka was their priority.

Jakk stealthily crept closer to the palace, letting the high walls and gardens of Pravoka's famed greenery hide him, as he lightly stepped onto the cobbled streets with his boots. Nothing but a muffled _clap._ Good, his skill hadn't left him.

Fingering his rapier and hoping to whatever gods kind enough that Alee was right, he knocked on one of the double doors that was the entrance to the palace, waiting for an answer. _Much more like a wealthy merchant's house than a fine palace of the city-state's leader. These Provokians sure are modest._

The sound of slippered feet reached his ears, and he braced himself. The door opened, and Consul Lacee Seelan looked at out him, unimpressed at finding a handsome man at her doorstep. _She's beautiful,_ Jakk noted._ If there's one thing that's changed ever since I've gone on this journey, it's the extraordinary amount of beautiful women I meet. _

Lacee shifted her lacy, revealing nightgown closely around her, as those hazel eyes tightened; she was not impressed or surprised with Jakk, especially at this time of the day.

"Who in the name of the Creator are you?" she asked, softly, but with a voice that could have thrown a pirate stumbling. Soft, but deceptively so. _Probably why Bikke is in the Council's Meeting Hall with the rest of his gang instead of in her bed every night. Even Bane would be scared of her._

Before she could do anything, he pushed her back, into the palace and closed the door.

"MynameisJakkI'mabloodyLightWarriorandIneedaship," Jakk said, in one long, rushing sentence. Pausing for air, he looked at her directly. "And, I need your help."

The Consul looked at him coolly. "I'm sure you've noticed the massive fleet of pirate ships blocking entrance to the seas. And even if I was kind enough to get you a ship, my price for the favor would be heavy, even if you do look like a rich lord's son. Unless-" For once, she hesitated, eyeing his chest. _No, not my chest,_ Jakk thought. _Something on my chest. The orb! _"Is your name Jakk Skyarr? Of Coneria?"

He fingered his rapier nervously again. Could this beautiful, young girl, leader of her city, be in league with the Fiends? He wouldn't have been so cautious if he wasn't a Light Warrior, but that damnable lore-master had given him some private advice before he was gone. _With handsome features such as yours, Jakk Skyarr, beauty is sure to find you along your way. I only ask that you be wary in your endeavors._

"Well, are you?"

Jakk tightened his grip on the rapier. "Yes."

She nodded, looking at him in another light.

"Then you shall follow me," she said, gently.

She motioned to the basement stairs, watching him curiously as he hesitated.

"I think there's someone very special you would like to meet down there, Jakk. Unless you would like me to explain how I know you were coming."

He nodded.

"Very well, the man downstairs can wait. Come, follow me into the parlor for a drink."

The thief followed, confused, even more so as she smiled, giving him a glass of sparkling lemonberry cider, thoughtfully sipping on a glass herself. Then she began.

"Only a day before the attack of these corsairs, a strange ship, a fast and sleek frigate came to our harbor, asking for the Consul. The markings of the craft meant it came from the Kingdom of Coneria, which haven't sent an emissary to our city-state for timeless decades. The captain of the _Everlasting_, Mizzam Haust, asked if four youths, on horses, had come from the east. I, of course, told him no, and asked him what prompted him to sail the wild seas from faraway."

Jakk frowned, searching his memory. The _Everlasting_?Wasn't that the ship Bane sailed from the Blighted Lands?

"Your familiar with the ship?"

"Perhaps. Continue, Consul."

She nodded. "He hesitated to tell me, but did, finally. It seemed that since many of his crewman were Provoka-borne, they were willing to take on the journey to my city. They did so under the orders of King Lyr , or so I was told. He also told me that these youths were the _Betar_." She paused again.

Seelan walked over to the small library in another room, pulling out a small book. "I've not heard the ancient word for 'Warriors of the Light' for many years, since I was a student studying the Prophecies. Very few people remember what has happened in the creation of the world, dismissing the whole thing as a myth. A far smaller number even read what the Prophecies holds for the world." She smiled. "My father was a noble in the Pravokian Body, and he schooled me well, teaching me how to read in the Ancient tongue so I could decipher this book."

Jakk frowned. _Lyr had sent a ship for them? How did he know..._

"How did he know to send us a ship because of the pirates?"

Lacee shrugged. "Who knows? I let the crew as mingle with the populace as ordinary Pravokians, and hid the Captain, in the cellar. The corsairs have left me alone for some reason. They are not here to harm us, it seems, just waiting for you."

A voice appeared from the doorway. "Good. All the more reason for us to get out of here." Seelan and Jakk turned around, looking at the yellow-hatted mage, knight, and white mage from the doorway.

"You were supposed to scout and come back to us in five minutes, Jakk. But it seems you have met another lady. Consul Seelan, I presume?" Klad knelt down, bowing over the blushing cheeks of the young Consul. Jakk felt annoyed enough to roll his eyes.

"We were only chatting, Klad. I've got some news for you. The _Everlasting_ is here with a crew for us to escape. It seems like Lyr sent someone over here because he predicted the trouble."

Bane's yellow orbs glowed. "We're in luck then. Our horses are here too. If we can-"

He was cut off by another arrival.

"The King didn't know about the trouble brewin' in Provoka, mage. It was the lore-master." A steady _thump_ on the polished cool marble floors accompanied Captain Mizzam Haust's arrival from the cellar. "He sends this message to the warriors," handing Klad a parchment. Klad read it aloud.

_"I have asked the King to send a ship to Pravoka when you get there. I ask you to travel to Elfland for your source of information, for I know that your journey will seem useless if you cannot even find where the Fiends are. The Elves will help you, unless some other obstacle lies in your path there. Though now is not the time for my advice, I have gone with the other sages to the town of Crescent Lake, travel there if you must seek my help. I should include a list of do's and do nots' for all of you, but I have neither the time, energy, or room to do so on this scrap of parchment."_

Klad smiled. "It sounds like lore-master, alright."

"Then we must go now?" Aki asked.

Before Klad could answer, another unexpected visitor knocked on the door, and then savagely kicked it open.

A blubbery corsair, with a greasy smile with a pirate's patch on one eye, smiled toothlessly. Behind him were a mass of milling eyeless Kyzoku.

"Caught unaware of a hoard of pirates in this blasted town! It looks like the search 'tis finally over. These are the Light Warriors?" He held up a cutlass. "Mates! Get those landlubbers!"


	11. Chapter 10: The Everlasting

Chapter Ten: The _Everlasting_

_"This LUTE has been passed down Queen to Princess for 2000 years. Garland stole it when he kidnapped me. Please accept it as my gift, it just might come in handy."_

Princess Sara, Final Fantasy I

Jakk knew he would miss it.

Fluidly, in one motion, Klad pulled out his sword and impaled it on the first Kyzoku, while the second met a blow to the face by his gauntlets. The Kyzoku staggered back, denying his mates from access to the crowded reception room of the Consul's Palace, while Klad, Bane, and Aki charged forward. Captain Haust drew his own blade, meeting an eyeless pirate's cutlass with a clash of metal. Jakk knew better than to fight. Grabbing the Consul's hand, he rushed back to another room.

"There's another exit to this place, isn't there?"

"Of course there is, but I'm perfectly capable-"

Jakk cut her off. "That's not the point. My friends, if you can call them that, are giving some time to get away."

"From what?"

He shook his head. "Just show me the exit," he said, looking back at his companions fighting.

Klad was nodding his thanks to the black mage, looking as the Kyzoku who tried to sneak disappeared in smoke as the knife sticking in his back fell. Smoothly running his sword through another pirate's body, the sounds of the _clang_ of metal outside surprising him. He looked at Bane again, a mysterious smile crawling up those dark lips. The knight's mind clicked.

"So that's what you were doing for the brief few minutes you left us, Bane. Freeing the city guard."

Bane shrugged. "There were only five pirates. A quick blast, and the door holding the city guards fell. Along with the pirates. Besides, they prove useful in giving us less Kyzokus to deal with."

"Five? Easy for you to say," Aki said, pushing a Kyzoku back and letting Haust slice off an arm. To his shock, the thing doggedly fought one-hand, blue smoke spewing out of his severed left arm like blood, as the rest of his body disappeared.

"Where's the blasted pirate?" Klad murmured, looking through the arched window. Besides the smoking clothes spewed around the Consul's polished marble, Bikke was gone.

Meanwhile, Jakk and Lacee had drawn their own weapons, fighting off two Kyzokus.

"You said there was a back exit!" Jakk shouted.

"I lied, didn't I? I thought a Light Warrior would be a better fighter," she responded coolly, accurately targeting the center of a pirate's face with throwing knife and then waiting until he charged at her to throw it. Clutching his face, the Kyzoku suddenly burst into smoke that stank faintly of old clothes.

"I'm just a simple-" Jakk almost let the word _thief_ slip again. No. Not now. Not when she likes me, Jakk thought.

Another dagger impaled the chest of the Kyzoku he was sparring with.

He ran his rapier through the chest, pulling back and surprised scarlet blood didn't show up on his blade. Grinning, he looked at the Consul.

"It seems like every girl I've met carries a hidden weapon. They come very useful at times, don't they?"

She nodded. "Especially when coming to fighting off handsome courtiers," she said, sarcastically.

Jakk returned the sarcasm. "I'm hardly handsome, my lady."

"I wasn't talking about you. I meant the pirate." She motioned to beautifully stained window, and Jakk saw Bikke running past them outside.

"So that's why they haven't-" Jakk stopped, wondering how not to offend Pravoka's leader. "-done anything to you?"

"You mean captured and killed me?" She laughed. "I'm hardly the pretty and innocent girl, Jakk. My people chose me to be their leader for a reason. And yes, Bikke was trying to court me after he captured my city."

"That _Tari_-forsaken soul," Jakk said.

Lacee shook her head. "He's hardly the swashbuckling marauder you would expect. Nor a cold-hearted villain. I'm still uneasy at the thought of why he joined up with the things."

As Jakk opened his mouth, he was again interrupted by that mage, coming in from the outer room.

"Again, Jakk. Stop flirting with the Consul. We must go. _Now._" A hint of hidden exasperation added with humor slipped through Bane's tone.

Jakk turned to go with the others, while Captain Haust was rounding up his crew. Outside, the City Guard was routing the pirates back into their ships, while the _Everlasting _stood ready, her three tall sails standing out behind the black of the pirates' vessels.

"Jakk, wait!" Lacee held his hands softly in hers, he noted surprisingly.

She ran somewhere in the corridors of her palace, coming back with a slim rapier he had never seen before. The handle of the blade was the same as any other, but the metal was peach-tinged, not a solid silver-gray. It seemed carved instead of heated from molten iron, carved into a sleek blade. And she thrusted it to him as a gift.

"Consul, I've barely known you. I can't-"

"Of course you can't take it, Jakk Skyar. That's why you must have it. Look! It's a coral sword, made out of Pravokian reef coral. Lighter than the cumbersome thing you have, and yet strong, not brittle. Just promise me you will come back."

He choked on his words. "Of course." He paused, thinking for something to say that would fit with his fake rich merchant status. But nothing came.

"Thank you," he said.

"Good luck," she whispered, softly, as Klad pulled the young thief away.

"Up with the sails! Come on!" Mizzam Haust slashed at a fleeing Kyzoku as he roared at his crew to get the _Everlasting_.

At the center of the city, four horses, their hooves _clacking_ on the cobbled streets, as Basyi was the first to climb the ramp to the ship, assisted by a sailor. Strider was the last, and then, her sleek form smoothly cruising in the water, the _Everlasting _was off.

And then, Bane turned his sight to the front of the ship, looking at the fleet of black-masted pirate vessels blockading the narrow passageway out of the sea.

Haust looked too. "I suppose, master mage, you have a plan to get us out of here with your magic?" His voice had only a drip of sarcasm.

"Magic of this world is not easily summoned by mere want, Captain. Especially elemental magic. But I do believe that something can be conjured. Keep the ship at this the same speed." And then, without another word, the mage went down below.

"Where's he going?" Haust asked.

"I do not know," Klad murmured, confused.

A sailor, his blue shirt and white pants splashed with salty water, eyed the three youths and the captain nervously. "They're almost in bowshot range of us, Captain. A few more minutes, and they'll be ready to with grappling hooks."

"Understood."

They came closer to the fleet of ships. Arrow whined and splashed into the water. One struck the deck with a reverberating _thong._ Jakk, a nervous sweat breaking out, wondered impatiently what Bane was doing. Perhaps he knew they were going to die, and didn't care to stop it?

And then, he felt it.

A giant hand seemed to lift the ship out of the water, making it rise into air, fueled by winds. Aki gasped, loosing her balance before feeling powerful hands grab hers and balance her out. She looked back, into the colorless gray orbs of Klad's eyes as he smiled warmly at her. She couldn't feel the strength and power in him, making her feeling confident and happy. And she realized that her lips were turning towards his...

As the ship rolled into the sky, balancing itself out, startled gulls squawked and rose higher into the thermals. Aki pushed out of Klad's arm, and for one saw the knight startled and surprise, exploding out on his face. At first she felt pleased with this unexpected reaction coming from the normally apathetic knight. But hen she blushed, cheeks giving away her embarrassment and shame. _I didn't meant to hurt you._

Already, it seemed like the knight had shut her off from himself. No, Aki thought, it _appeared_ that way. She could sense his feelings linger...but that stony gaze and aloofness settled back into Ryar House Haasions again, the expression every man pretended to show in order to hide their feelings.

Gusts of wind blew her hood closer to the back of her head, swirling her flame-gold curls out in the wind, and propelling the ship in the air, and our of Pravoka. Into land, where the Kyzokus could not chase them. The fierce gust blew again, pulling her hood closer, hiding her feelings from him.

* * *

Kraken watched unkindly as the headless body of Sibikken, commonly known as Bikke the Pirate, writhed its life out on the ocean floor. Kraken's human hands, one gripping Bikke's own bloodstained cutlass, were still shaking with rage. He did not like taking human bodies, but it was an available option. He did not like humans at all, for they were worthless and untrustworthy, demonstrated by the pirate scum, the headless body still twitching. Humans were unlike the shark swimming at his side, in his underwater palace, unperturbed by the beheading. Kraken calmed himself.

"Tell Kary that the four have escaped and are heading to her realm of interest, in Elfland. Also issue an order to Kyzoku Captains to put their man-o-wars on alert for a ship in the Aldi. They know which."

"Yes, my lord." The shark swam away.

Kraken turned to the glittering black orb on the altar. His minions might have failed, but one way or another, the Light Warriors would be the Alatari's puppets to pull on strings. As would the rest of the world. As long as part of his soul rested in the orb of water, tainting it black, and tainting the waters to make them wild, the seas would be troubled. And even if the warriors made light in the orb, his soul would be expelled, free and whole again. To do what it pleased.

_In the end, the Fiends would always win._

_In the end, order gives way to chaos.

* * *

_

Bane's eyes slowly but surely closed. The ship was now out of the Kyzokus' eyesight, heading towards Elfland, and it had been lowered into the wild seas minutes before.

"You okay, Bane?" Jakk asked, feeling surprised at the genuine sense of worry pouring from his voice. But of course, the black mage had just saved all of them.

"Tired...wind magic saps your strength," Bane said, voice faltering. "Tell Aki...not to bother healing. Saps her strength as well...wake me up when we're on land."

"Of course, Bane. Good night."

He watched as the mage slipped into his bunk, rolling over to one side, fast asleep.

A shadow figure with a dark cloak and hood on jumped out from the ship's dark corner, and right into Jakk's back, quickly reaching inside a pocket and pulling out the Lute Sara, Swan-Princess, had given him. And then the shadow enveloped Jakk.

Hugging him.

As the hood fell off, the golden hair and smiling, lovely face of Princess Sara was revealed, startling Jakk even more.

"Miss me, Jakk?"


	12. Chapter 11: Sara's Story

Chapter 11: Sara's Story

_Author's Note: Hey readers. I appreciate the comments you've been giving me on the story. They've been helpful, but please, if you find something you don't like or something that you really do, tell me about! Criticism is always a welcome with me. Hopefully there ARE things you don't like about this story. So once again, give me some feedback! I love it. _

Commander of the City Guard Taxu Bes'tan watched from the walls of Tranmankand, by the main city gate, as scores of riders of dun colored horses struck dust clouds for leagues as they approached from the old city roadways.

"Pace?" he asked the young captain of fifty men arrayed on the ramparts.

"Quick but steady, sir. They'll be here in a few."

"And their identification, captain?"

"Nowhere in sight. Not a flag or anything, but there are symbols on their cloaks. Hard to see." The young officer's face twitched. "Their emblem is crudely sewn on."

"You think they may be bandits?"

Before the captain could answer, one of his men whispered, as he gave another look through his microbinoculars.

"What is it?" Bes'tan asked.

The captain grimaced. "Corporal As'man says the crests on the cloaks mark them from Coneria."

Bes'tan betrayed his inner thoughts through the drop of the calm nature of his face, as he spoke in the quick northern accent.

"From Coneria."

He repeated, dazed. Out of any who would attack Tranmankand, Coneria, who had built the City of Thieves, would be least likely to do so.

"Do you remember, sir, when the Conerian Knights came to our city searching for a man? They were not happy when you refused to let them search. This could be Coneria's retaliation."

Bes'tan nodded, but it could not be as the captain had said. He secretly had agreed to let Captain As'yan to search the city for a youth because of the revelation of who that man was.

"It may be possible that Coneria is attacking us, but highly unlikely. But perhaps we should not speak now. Signal your archers."

The captain saluted, and then lifted his right had in the air. The fifty, in unity, raised their crossbows, aiming for a target. Below, the glittering of a hundred swords as they were unsheathed by a hundred men-at-arms made Bes'tan smile. Just like old times, when they had been driving sand-imps back.

And then, it happened.

There was no warning, no shout, no signal: just a volley of barbed arrows whining. One struck the commander in the shoulder; another hit a man in the face, twirling him as he fell without a yell off the steep rampart.

The horsemen let out another volley at the Tranmankanders, killing more before Bes'tan shouted to return fire as he watched the captain slump, arrows embedded in his chest. As the commander dragged the now dead captain off the ramparts, ordering his men to retreat before another hail of arrows came again, he cursed the mongrels who had attacked his city. Whatever he could do he would punish these marauders, even if it was Coneria.

_Especially_ if it was Coneria.

* * *

Makery Asuion watched from a hill as a thousand foot soldiers marched in the valley, in perfect rows, five long and five deep. All of them loyal Amlador, the small kingdom nestled between two mountains ranges, the Unpassables and the Thirteen Peaks. Here, safe from Coneria's wary gaze, Amlador, the kingdom once allied to the Four Fiends, was building an army.

Asuion turned to the commander of cavalry, grim and hard-faced, who was looking at the ranks of infantry with disdain. _Cavalry officers,_ Asuion thought, _are always imperviously hateful to their counterparts on foot._

"So the attack went well?" Asuion asked.

"Yes, my lord. The Tranmankanders were caught off guard from the volley, and we drove them off the ramparts. The spies report that the city militia and watch combined have only a few thousand, no more than five thousand, in their army. The Three Lords of Tranmankand are clearly not expecting any large-scale attack."

_Five thousand?_ Asuion thought. He turned to his other side, to the Earth Fiend's emissary, a spirit molded out of clay, with blood crimson hair and glowing red eyes. A _Licheen_. Servant to Lich.

"How many imps can you supply to us for the attack on Tranmankand?"

A glower appeared on the face of the Licheen, as if conversing with humans was distasteful, but it answered.

"Twenty-thousand," it said.

A smile appeared on Asuion's face. Soon, he would have fifty thousand troops to assault the greatest city of the north, home to hundreds of thousands.

And make all of it look like Coneria's idea.

* * *

"And so you came," Bane concluded, crossing his arms and narrowing those yellow eyes at the Princess, steadily watching the woman even as the _Everlasting _lurched in the seas.

They sat in the mess room, cleared of all the dishes and food, as polite sailors bowed low to Sara, Princess, before scurrying out, leaving the five alone.

Sara smiled tightly, unshouldering a quiver of red-feathered arrows and setting her longbow down. "Yes, so I left. I was curious about what four youths of my own age, the Light Warriors, would be doing."

Bane shook his head, slowly moving to a chair. He was still limping, his recent use of the elemental of air leaving him exhausted and emotionally scarred. Even harder to use, the mage had told Aki, when the elements are being controlled by the Fiends. Aki looked at the other mage with worry, knowing at some point, that same level of exhaustion would reach her.

Jakk was still looking at Sara as someone who was only partially there, someone who should never be standing less than ten feet away. Still looking at her as someone who had come from a dream.

Klad was most curious, glaring at the Princess angrily, not as a knight of Coneria should be: concerned with her safety. Sara never even tried to defuse the look Klad had on his face.

"You look angry, Ryar."

"You should never had come here. How long have you been following us?"

"When your horses left for the bridge, Daila was already behind you," she responded coolly, referring to her horse.

"So it _was_ you." Bane exchanged glances with Klad, then turned back to address the other three.

"We suspected someone on horseback was following us, dressed in dark attire. We tried to hide the trail we left behind, for a spy on horse would easily follow us. Apparently, we didn't do well enough."

"Why did you not tell us?" Jakk asked, exchanging confused glances with Aki.

"There was no need; the spy would be discouraged at Pravoka, for there was no way two ships would go out to Elfland in these times, and no way to hide on a ship that would take us." He gave Sara another odd look. "This did not happen, of course."

Sara gave another sweet, mocking smile. Somehow, during the chaos of the battle between the pirates and Pravokian City Guard, Daila and Sara had slipped onto the _Everlasting_'s deck and quietly went down into the ship's holds, hiding.

"The tracking skills I learned from you backfired, huh, Ryar?" Sara grinned openly, looking at the others confused faces.

"He has told nothing to you, then?" she eyed Klad a strange look. "Marquis Ryar House Haasions was once my childhood playmate. Though usually he treated me and acted as an overly protective older brother," she said, rolling her eyes. She went on.

"My father, Ryar, and I went hunting many times, and Ryar taught me how to track the animals in the forest. You four were harder to track, especially since you are two mages, a thief, and a knight of Coneria, but I persisted. Besides, how many place are there to go now?"

There was a moment of shocked silence. Aki caught her breath. Many of the Conerian knights were minor lords; Aki had known that, but Klad is a marquis, and a childhood friend of the Princess? _And I thought he was just a knight. Just a knight._

"I _once_ was a lord, Sara. Not anymore. Now I'm a knight."

"As you say, Klad," she said mockingly.

"What should we do with her?" Jakk asked.

"Stuff something in her mouth so she won't scream and lock her up in a closet and send her back to Coneria," Klad replied, without any sarcasm.

"Does the King know you are gone?"

The Princess, for once, became serious, biting her lip.

"No. My father thinks I'm recuperating from the kidnapping and residing in the summer palace southwest of Coneria. One of my maids is acting as me. We look similar."

Jakk shook his head with disbelief.

"May I ask..." Sara hesitated. "Where the four Light Warriors are going?"

"Elfland," Klad answered.

The steady thumping on wood announced the arrival of Captain Haust, his shorter wooden leg noticeable as he

climbed down the stairs.

Stiffly, falling back to his days with the Conerian Fleet, he executed a bow to the Princess, and then turned to Klad.

"Lieutenant, we've got into a barnacled situation up on the deck. I'm requesting your presence."

"Right away, Captain. Sara, stay here. Bane, Aki, Jakk, let's go."

The Princess shot a reproachful look, but did not move. Jakk walked to the deck with a half-apologetic glance to Sara, then quickly went up.

The cool sea breeze helped ease the tensions everyone was feeling, though the rocky water churned Jakk's stomach endlessly. A sailor looked through a long spyglass at the tiny object gaining speed behind then, surrounded by the clear horizons of blue and white sky.

Haust was talking in low whispers to Klad and Bane, but Jakk had already figured out what was wrong: a Kyzoku frigate was following them.

"They'll be a closing in another ten minutes or so, missus," Haust said, looking at Aki's worried face.

"Any more tricks in your sleeve, mage?" Haust asked, and under Bane's glowering look, hastily took back his question.

"Maybe," the mage answered. "No new tricks though. Using the wind elemental in helping the ship, I can do." He held up his hands, ready to say the incantation, but Haust spoke up.

"Perhaps we can save your energy, master mage. Tanka! How fast 'till she reaches us?"

A well-tanned sailor looked up from the spyglass. "Seven or so minutes, Captain."

"Plenty of time." Mizzam Haust beckoned to the four.

"Follow me, please."

Following him to a small room below the deck, to the rear of the ship, he lifted a heavy black cloth concealing a bulky object. Underneath, a collection of shiny metal parts, pipes, and bulky metallic pieces all fitted together as a metal box with holes, hooks, and parts going every direction.

No one spoke. Then, almost to himself, Jakk muttered: "A motor-engine."

The others turned their heads away from the new device and to him.

"How did you know?" Haust asked, surprised.

"I read about it in Tranmankand."

"Stole a book, did you?" the mage wondered, amusement covered by the sober tone.

"Of course. From a mage's library," Jakk retorted.

Haust broke the argument.

"Before I say anymore, let's get this thing started." Like a child's wind-up toy, he pulled a string on the side, and the machine coughed to life, starting the motor as metal fans whirled loudly inside, startling all but Bane, as he muttered, "mechanical magic" with distaste.

They looked to the windows on the side of the room, watching as another rotor fan twirled down at the hull of the ship, thrashing water and propelling the ship forward, away from the pirates' grasp.

"The King ordered it in the _Everlasting,_" Haust said conversationally, "so the rough seas would be easier to skim."

"How did they learn to build a machine? Most knowledge of mechanical things were lost during the Shattering of _Danador_," Aki said.

"It was a group of Conerian scientists. They were sifting through the Royal Library of the Ancients and found a manuscript detailing the construction of a motor-engine, and they decided to capitalize and build one. Several prototypes were built before one of them was installed."

"Was the manuscript detailing this engine for the use of something else, like an airship?" Bane asked.

Haust nodded, surprised. "How did you know?"

Aki looked at the other mage quizzically.

"Airships are only fables," she said with an unconfident matter-of-face tone.

"So were the Light Warriors, Akian Arkya." The mage flashed his mysterious smile.

"Who knows if airships exist or existed? In the northern continents, airships were thought to have sailed the seas of endless winds like ships skimming water. Who knows?" The mage repeated, looking at the pirate frigate as it became a black spot on the horizon.

As they walked towards the front deck, Aki looked at the black mage. _There is still much left unsaid about him_, she thought. Another glance at Klad made her wonder about his connections to the Royal House of Coneria, and yet another at the handsome thief made her spine tingle unpleasantly.

_For all of us, there is still mystery. _


	13. Chapter 12: A Long Way from Home

Chapter 12: A Long Way from Home

Lyr looked at the piles of papers hashed into a giant maelstorm of problems. Reports of imp raids on villages, worsening droughts in the borderlands, attacks on Tranmankand, accusations by the rulers of Tranmankand, the Three Lords, that Coneria was the one behind an attack...the list went on. Delegates from other nations disproving his claims that the Light Warriors even existed with their own scant knowledge of the _Betar_, others blindly vowing to support them.

It seemed like every problem the world faced lay on his desk.

_No, _the King mused, _every problem the world faces is the Light Warriors' problem._

Lying back in his chair, the King sipped a glass of wine, wondering. Had he been right to send the Light Warriors away and hope they would restore the ever-increasing chaos that rocked Gaia's foundation? It was a brash move, one he felt he had to make before the lives of the four youths would be in danger in Coneria. Before they were killed. But could he have waited? What if, like the thief in the group, they were all fakes, cons? But it was done.

The _Betar_ had left, leaving a weary old man to govern a shrinking kingdom while the world splintered in fragments. He had placed all hope that four warriors would deliver.

Lyr realized for all the problems he faced, it was nothing, _nothing_, compared to the path that was laid before those youths.

* * *

It happened only when the orb started to mysteriously to heat up, as balls of fire expanding and shrinking inside the miniature sphere in flashes. But the dream was the same every time. This nightmare wasn't.

Aki shifted uncomfortably in her nightgown, swaying with the slight motions of the ship as it dip and rose in the seas. Normally, they frightened her. It began, as all dreams seemed, beautiful:

_A day in her village of Dylser as the sun rose to swath it in light. Aki was enjoying the rays as she pruned the rose bushes around her house. Her father, the village healer, was tending to the cut of a small child, mystifying the golden-haired boy as the cut and pain disappeared from his right palm._

_Aki looked, smiling at her father's happy face, then wincing as she felt bites of pain arc through her right index finger. A bead of blood expanded, and like a fireball, popped, spewing tiny droplets everywhere. The rosebush thorns had cut her. _

_Suddenly, those tiny droplets of blood expanded, into gaping wounds in her skin, as blood poured from each one: dams bursting with blood. Aki screamed, as the necklace holding the orb on her neck grew larger, expanding with her blood pouring out and spawning monsters: Imps, Ogres, Undead. They rampaged, raping the village of its existence. _

_The fountains of blood stopped._

_Aki stood, amid the chaos, amid her father's body, amid her friend's graves. Her orb had brought this upon the village._

It was like that. Over and over, it repeated, like those cinematic shows a traveling salesman would bring to Dylser. But this new dream expanded on the nightmare.

Aki shifted in her bed, sweat crawling through her face. The new portion began.

_From the orb, a shadowy figure appeared, taking form. _

_It was a Fiend, who took her wounds away with a sweep of a hand. It appeared in an instant, a woman towering over Aki's crumpled form on the grass, serene in the midst of chaos. _

_It was beautiful, queenly with perfectly full lips, smiling. The hair was red too, flaming red like Aki's. The smile turned into a beautiful smirk._

_It bent down, offering her a hand. Aki did not take it. Kary, the Fiend of Fire, stood again, her shimmering dress offsetting the smirk on her face. _

_"A pleasure to meet you, Akian Arkya, white mage healer of Dylser." _

_Aki said nothing, only wondering where she put her hammer, or if a knife was available._

_Then, Klad jumped clear of her, holding the mage back while his sword swept to cut Kary's head off._

_The blade reached an inch before shattering into minute fragments. The knight whirled in the air, landing with a horrific _thump_. Klad crumpled, dead._

_Aki screamed, her yell shrill and surprising herself. A fresh wave of pain, not physical but emotional, stabbed through her. She wanted to heal him to see him up and on his feet, to feel his strong, calming presence. But now he looked pathetic. _

_She realized it was a dream. Aki turned facing the Fiend._

_The smirk was still there._

_"You see? Your power, all of your combined powers, are nothing compared to mine."_

_Those eyes, glowing red orbs, narrowed, while the Alatari stepped closer._

_"I can make it different. I can make that knight love you. I can make him marry you. I can make you a queen of a kingdom. I can make you a powerful white mage. I can do these things, Arkya. All I ask you to do is join me, to serve me, in ruling this pitiful world."_

_She did not say to conquer, making that fine line of distinction clear in her thoughts. To the Fiend, this world was already conquered. Or ready to be._

_Aki stubbornly refused to answer._

_The eyes of the Fiend blazed violently. _

_"Answer me!" Screaming, it lifted Aki off her feet, a doll in the arms of an enraged child. No scream came from her mouth as she was shaken by some invisible force back and forth, neck wildly lunging as her hair flew from a neat bun._

She woke, gasping. The seas rocked the ship gently, as in a baby's cradle. Sara enjoyed her dream, smiling sweetly in the bunk opposite to hers.

Aki looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was matted, strands of it were awash with sweat, while she felt her body had been boiled in an oven.

Wincing in surprise, she felt an arc of pain in her neck, like it was sore from shaking. She suppressed a shiver, something odd as the night grew hotter. So the dream _was_ real, or at least, partially so.

A wave of sweat broke out again, and she sighed, reluctant to get out of her bunk. But she did, opening a porthole window on Sara's side and smelling salt breezes of air cooling both of them off.

She slid back to bed, wondering if she could go to sleep after the nightmare.

A few hours later, she awoke.

Wearily, she rose, half inclined to open her eyes. _A night of unweary dreaming only brings weary waking,_ her father used to say. She opened her eyes, surprised at how much light spread through the room. Blinking, Aki looked at the reflection of the Princess.

Sara grinned good-naturedly to her from a vanity mirror, brushing her curls as she sat down in front of a tiny desk in the largest cabin aboard the _Everlasting._

"You're up," she said, simply. "Finally. You've been moaning about something before I was even awake."

"I'm sorry if I disturbed your rest, my princess," Aki answered earnestly. Her respect had lessened for Coneria lately, but she was still a subject of the kingdom, and inclined to treat royalty with their proper titles. But Sara's face fell as she heard the word _princess._

"Don't," she said, frowning. "You don't have to call me that anymore, 'specially since we're so far away from home."

Aki nodded her agreement, and then excused herself to the small bathroom to the side of the cramped cabin. Staring into the mirror, she groaned. Her nightgown was soaked with sweat, reflecting how nightmarish her dream really was.

Like the others, Aki traveled light for the journey, storing two nightgowns, undergarments, and two sets of travel clothes she wore under her mage cloak, all wrapped in a neat bundle and strapped to Rose. At Mistress Ocusu's house, she had washed them before going; it looked like she would have to do it again. She dressed, then put on her cloak, wishing for a bath.

Sara frowned again as Aki walked out. The princess was wearing light clothes; a summertime flowery skirt and sleeveless shirt.

Aki smiled when she realized Sara was looking at her heavy cloak.

"Mage cloaks are special, made of _lethean_ fibers that insulates one's body to keep it cool in summer, and warm in winter."

"And what about in spring, when it rains?"

Sara laughed at her own joke, then pointed to Aki's nightgown. "You are going to wash that with seawater?"

"I suppose...Sara."

Sara smiled again, never seeming to tire of her happiness. "Perhaps we can be friends, white mage Aki Arkya." She reached into a bundle of clothes, all in a roll as if recently strapped to a horse. After rummaging around, she handed Aki a shimmery, light nightgown.

"Here's a spare. It also keeps you cool in hot nights, especially if you are having nightmares. Come, let's get some breakfast."

Aki returned Sara's smile, walking towards the mess hall like two childhood friends.

A minute later, they arrived in the main room aboard the ship, cleared almost of sailors. The men who were still lingering dropped hasty and erratic bows to the Princess, almost embarrassed with themselves as she greeted them warmly.

Jakk waved a hand at a table, getting up and formally bowing to the Princess before sitting down, throwing a smirk to Aki.

The cook, in a stained apron, brought warm porridge and sweet green apples with milk immediately. "I'm sorry for the poor quality of the food, my princess," he said, bowing.

"Nonsense! I wasn't expecting you to fix it for us. It's more than enough."

The cook flustered, bowing low again before retreating. Delicately, Sara took an apple slice, tart juice spraying Jakk as he watched her take a bite, awed by his good fortune in being in the presence of Sara.

Aki shook her head in mock disgust, gently dabbing her spoon into the porridge to taste how hot it was.

"Where are Klad and Bane?"

Jakk woke from his stupor. "Where do you think? Like yesterday, and the day before: rising at the crack of dawn, going to the deck. Klad, improving his sword forms on this rocky ship, Bane; helping the sailors and looking for signs of land. Acting like their noble, honorable selves." He rolled his eyes for thematic effect.

"Blast it, but I wish some shark would eat one of them while they're at work."

Aki smiled, nodding in agreement. For the week they had been at sea, Klad and Bane always were first to rise, and last to bed, while Jakk, Sara, and herself lagged behind.

Sara sighed in the same way Jakk had rolled his eyes. "Ryar has always been like that. Always looking out for the welfare of others, and never for himself."

"So he's not mad at you then, for your little stunt?"

Sara snorted. "No. He's worried, but he covers it with silent anger."

"Ah. Well, I'll be on the deck if you need me. Our knight said he could kill me blindfolded and with one arm the way I fight; he said my sword movements at Pravoka were so predictable he's got to give me a lesson." The thief looked at his feet, embarrassed, then ran up the deck.

After Jakk left, the two woman ate silently, famished after the long night. Aki slowly savored her porridge; it tasted as good as her father had made it when she was a child.

"Ship's porridge isn't bad," Sara commented. "Especially for breakfast with commoners."

"Fit for royalty?"

"Of course." She set down her spoon. "Tell me about yourself."

The mage's eyes widened. The question was unexpected.

"About me? You know who I am. A white mage healer of Dysler, a small village three leagues northwest of the Dream City, at the gate of the Black Forest."

"And your parents? Who are they?"

"Were. They're dead. My father was a white mage himself. He served as a surgeon during the Imp Wars. My mother, she gave birth to me and my sibling. A boy, I believe. We're twins, but I've never met him. Our family was split during the chaos of the war."

"I see." The princess was interested, seeming solemn and concerned for a subject of her kingdom. "And you never found them?"

Aki shook her head bitterly. "After the chaos of the war? No. Tens of thousands were displaced, families like mine, split, great cities swallowed into villages and shantytowns, thousands of others dead. Not even the Dream Kingdom could stop the savagery."

"We tried," Sara commented quietly. "My brother died leading a company of archers. My father was wounded by an Ogre's club. It was a mage surgeon who helped him. What happened to your father?"

Aki hesitated for a second before replying.

"He died. The magic he used to help others could not help him, and he wasted away."

"Leaving you an orphan." The woman gazed out the round window by their table. No tears, Aki thought, but definite sadness. _She knows what it feels like._ "I'm sorry."

After their breakfast, they were strolling around on the deck, watching as sailors climb rigging and unfurling white masts to keep with the currents of wind, giving the motor-engine a break. Around them, the wild seas of the Aldi roared, but the calm was evident, as nothing was in their wake.

Klad practiced his sword movements, unleashing on fluid, flowing motion after another, like a dance.

"You like him, don't you?" Sara asked.

Aki stumbled on the hem of her cloak.

"What?"

"Don't think I haven't noticed, Aki," Sara replied. "I saw the look you gave me when I was mocking him on the _Everlasting._" She smiled cheerfully at the white mage. "It's alright. You can have him. Jakk's my favorite boy to embarrass."

It was Aki's turn to smile.

"Jakk? Really?"

Sara shrugged. "He's handsome enough."

"Yet his wits are below that of swine."

Sara laughed, and Aki felt herself grinning in a way she had felt on in her childhood, as a girl gossiping and whispering secrets to friends, while running to the peach tree orchards and playing games with the neighborhood boys. All before her father had died, and before she became the village healer...Aki's face returned to solemness.

"Yes," Sara said, curiously looking at Aki as they continued their stroll," I like Jakk. He may not be the wise like the lore-master, but he's cheerful and lovable enough. Beside, he has that mysterious aura he tries to conceal. Have you noticed? He's not himself sometimes."

The princess paused, unsure.

"He always has this depression springing in from nowhere, and feels the orb he carries on his necklace. You are all like that. I can feel it."

They were interrupted by a voice on the bird's nest on top of the largest of the masts.

A sailor looked in surprise at the darkened, red horizon. In front of that foreboding background, a wall of water was coming at the ship.

"Large wave coming starboard!" he cried, sounding pathetic in the roar of the ocean. Sailors looked to where he was pointing, as shouts and whispers of fear erupted.

Bane's yellow eyes narrowed to slits.

"Kraken's fury and revenge for Pravoka," he said quietly to himself. He lifted his arms, silently whispering an incantation he learned long ago, releasing a gust of wind.

Wind and water met, as currents blasted the wave back before another thunderous roar produced a solid wall of water. Bane was first to be hit, swept off his feet, as Jakk and Klad watched before they were gone.

The _Everlasting_ disappeared, bubbles the only reminder of where it was, as it sank, only a few leagues off of Elfland.


	14. Chapter 13: Divided

Chapter 13: Divided

_"Astos wears a disguise and lurks in seclusion."_

Final Fantasy I

Astos watched the Agama, a viper tongued, red-skinned minion of Kary, the Fire Fiend, bow low, and then slither on all four feet out of the Elfland castle. All fiends, it seemed, had the most exotic and strange pets for their uses, Astos thought, looking at the furnishings of the castle with awe.

The throne room in Elfland was a place of exquisite granduer, with its high arched ceiling and fountains of bubbling springs of water. It was, Astos reflected, the place any elf would desire: with the smell of the sea intermingled with the green forestry of Elfland, for the Aldi and forests were home to all elves.

The man in Prince Elles' form shifted uncomfortably, the leaner and taller Prince was too unlike Astos. But he had been acting as Elles for a few weeks now, and uncomfortable as it had been, the profit for his Dark Elf clan had been enormous. And now...he watched as the Agama slipped out of the room, there was this interesting proposition.

For the weeks he had taken Elles' form and locked the Prince in a deep draught, he had led the kingdom of Elfland in an uproar of the southern continent, sending armies to conquer the neighboring villages and expanding an empire. It was dangerous, he knew; the war mongering was one reason his clan was expelled hundreds of years ago. His clan, pariahs of the elves, were forced to wander until they evolved their magic in the southern forests by the marsh cave, becoming the Dark Elves, holding potent magic in their grasps. Magic so strong it allowed Astos to become Elles in the first place.

And now the Dark Elf Clan was back in power, holding the throne of Elfland.

But this did not mean much.

For now, like much of the world, empires and kingdoms were crumbling, disintegrating like dry leaves. Empires were rotten meat, stinking and letting everyone know of its rot with its wretched stink. The stink the kingdom of Elfland was letting off was no exception.

The seas were almost too wild for even the biggest and heaviest of Elven craft to sail, while their green homeland slowly filled with shadow spawn. Whispers of the end, not only of the kingdom, but of Gaia, spread. The Alatari were loosened, and unlike the last time blood soaked the seas, no Tari were to be, to save them.

And so when their Prince ordered the southern continent cleaned from evil, the Elves gladly complied. But more than just Imps were being slain, as villages, once inhabited by human farmers, were uprooted and destroyed, and some of the small fiefs that minor lords controlled were burned to the ground. But Elles had said it was for the good of Gaia, and his hosts complied.

_But Elles was gone, replaced only by his body, not his soul. _

Astos contemplated the Fiends' offer, presented by the Agama.

_So this is their concern_, Astos though. The _Betar_. The prophecies of the _Tari_ were kept in the dark basements of all Elven minds, never fully considered, and feared even more than humans. The last apocalyptic war had destroyed the civilization of Alanni's creation, and they feared the next such one would completely destroy it.

But these four youths were in his grasp, he was told by the Agama, and finding these youths would mean that Elfland would not be troubled by either the Fiends or Light Warriors.

Astos knew that the Fiends were again loosened from the orbs, but he was surprised to learn that the Fire Fiend, Kary, was residing less than five hundred leagues away from Elfland, in an ancient volcano.

But where had the four warriors come from?

Certainly not from the sparse human population in the southern continent. But really, how could a ship travel the thousand leagues to Elfland, in these times, and why?

Whatever the reasons, Astos did not worry about them for long. Kary's offer to leave Elfland alone was tempting, and he would find these warriors.

* * *

The nightmare came again. Aki tried to scream, to stop it, but it came and went, leaving her bones chilled.

Blinking her eyes open, she looked at her surroundings. She was lying on a cot. The ceiling of the house she was in was thatched with straw covering, crude for even a Conerian village house. The floor was dirt, the walls, wooden logs. Her cloak was gone, replaced by heavy, leather boots, not hers, but new, trousers, and a long sleeved, linen shirt. She was wearing clothes of a man, the mage reflected, in surprise.

_Where am I? Dead? Drowned? Where is this place? Am I still dreaming?_

"Your clothes were wet, so Ginnie dressed you in drier things. I apologize for the lack of consideration my sister took."

A man, sitting on a bench by the fireplace, tossed a stick and turned to the white mage, standing.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Emien Taylas. And you are-"

Aki winced as she got to her feet, not forgetting manners.

"Akian Arkya. Of Coneria."

"Coneria? Then you have sailed many leagues!"

Of course! Aki thought. The distinct feeling of waves of water rushing over her came back, as she remembered what happened. The _Everlasting_ had capsized, just as Aki began to chant a simple spell, learned in childhood. Once, almost drowning from a simple swim in the river, her father had taught her the bubble spell, which let one form a bubble around themselves and float. It was childish, a spell meant to entertain friends. But Aki, in the last attempt to prevent the ship from sinking, began to form a massive sphere surrounding the ship, as the wave deluged it under the ocean. Using all her strength to form the bubble as she gasped for breath under the cold water, she felt relief flooding into her as the lumpy bubble struggled out of the water, enclosing the sleek ship within it, as she passed out.

Taylas eyed her before continuing, finishing the tale she had thought of.

"The half drowned crew of your ship managed to sail the few leagues here, but they could not revive you. You've been asleep for a good four days."

_Four days!_ Aki thought. Before she could say anymore, the crude wood door opened, revealing a thin, tall man.

_"Hastel ahya, Emi?"_ The man asked in an tongue she didn't understand. His golden brown hair, long and in a topknot, couldn't hide the delicate, pointy ears he had. _An elf! _He turned to Aki.

"Ah!" he exclaimed in the common tongue. I see you have awaken. Greetings, human! My name is Lord Ellya."

* * *

Klad coughed, tasting the salty water in his mouth, as he groaned at the prospect of opening his eyes. It was something that took more strength than fighting five men at once; he felt his eyes were glued shut.

"Let me help you," a familiar voice said. A hand wiped away the salt, sand, and grime on his eyes, and the knight hesitantly blink his eyes open.

Those glowing eyes, yellow and unblinking, looked directly at him. The sounds of waves hitting the beach penetrated his ears, then the groaning of another person. He felt for his sword, sighing in relief. It was still there. His armor was still on too, feeling like rocks on his shoulders; his clothes underneath were shrinking, tightly wrapping his breastplate and shoulder plates onto his muscles. Testing his voice, he opened his mouth to speak.

"Take them off." The black mage hurried to oblige while Klad's discomfort increased.

"Jakk! Tanka! Help me find these blasted latches!"

Klad gritted his teeth. If the mage couldn't take them off soon enough, his ribs would be broken from the tightening leather.

The sailor, Tanka, found the first tightly strung laces that held the lower left side portion of Klad's chest armor, while the mage removed the other side. What they found underneath was not swelling leather but a long, sinuous snake, in colors of swirling ocean blue. It lashed out at Tanka, who calmly reached for his knife and cut off the serpent's head. The long body writhed, quivered, and lay still, coils of it loosening its grip on Klad's body.

Jakk ran over, his heavy boots spraying sand on Klad's face as he breathed heavily.

"You're a little late for the action," Bane said, as he watched Jakk fumble with his rapier.

"I'm not a big fan of snakes."

Klad looked at the familiar faces as he painfully and slowly rose. The waves on the beach lapped and waned, producing roar after furious roar, trying to demonstrate its power to the four stranded men. He looked not half a league inland, and saw the lush trees, not tropical, with light brown trunks and jagged palm leaves, but firs and ancient trunks of redwood. This, Klad thought, is Elfland.

Jakk was there, looking now like a shabby lord in soggy clothes. The mage's cloak, among being soft and light, appeared to be water resistant as well, with no salty wetness of the sea touching them.

_The hat too, is undamaged_, Klad thought.

The fourth man, Tanka, was a broad-chested sailor in a navy blue shirt, white pants, and sailor's cap. He was shivering, but nonetheless respecting the warriors, even after the catastrophes befalling them.

"Where are Aki and Sara?" Klad's voice sounded strange to him, with too much fear and not enough calm. What they needed was calm.

The mage's voice echoed the worry.

"Still on the ship when we were thrown off. I saw it sink before more waves swept me away."

The little comfort that Klad felt was now gone, as the word's struck the young knight.

_Gone?_ Aki and Sara? Both whom he vowed to protect? He ran a hand through his long hair, and his stubble of a beard. It had been scarcely a few weeks since they had all met, but the connection was there, unbreakable. They needed each other, depended on one another for everything. They could have not died, after the things they had done in his short time. No, their tasks were not yet done, and death could not take them. No.

Klad's voice calmed.

"They are not dead. They cannot be."

"A sentiment which I agree with."

* * *

"You found no one else?"

"None, missus." Though Mizzam Haust had gained a strong respect for Aki after saving his ship, he was looking annoyed about the pestering the mage was giving him.

The young woman looked away from him, and at the only window in the cottage, watching the sea rage violently against the anchored _Everlasting. _

Haust softened, placing a grizzled, weather beaten hand on Aki's youthful one.

"Klad, Jakk, Bane, Tanka; their strong lads, missus. They'll be a coming. They've not passed."

Aki gave the captain a rare grin.

"I hope. In my heart, I think you are right."

The captain nodded and got up, limping out. He nodded to Ellyas and Taylas as they strode in.

On the other side of the cottage, in the waning sunlight, Sara finally rose from her sleep after the few days the ship had landed in Elfland. _Finally, _Aki thought, _the last person to wake!_

"Finally, your companion awakes!" Ellyas' merry voice echoed what Aki was thinking.

"And who are you, my lady?" he said.

Sara yawned and stretched, blinking at her new clothes and at the people looking at her.

"Princess Sara of house May'ana, of Coneria."

Taylas snorted. "And I am the heir to the throne of Lefein. Come now, who are you?"

_"Emi! Mastel nov lan donstrum." _

_"A soun, Ellyas, a soun." _

Sara timidly looked at the mage.

"Aki? Where are we?"


	15. Chapter 14: A Kingdom Divided

Chapter 14: Kingdom Divided

_"The Prince must wake soon, or the Dark Elf will dominate!" _

Final Fantasy I

The sunlight lowered, leaving the peaceful elven forests darker and more intimidating. By the flickering of the fire, the four men sat, three nervously fingering their orbs, looking at the remains of their fresh fish meal. Klad looked into the thing, spherical, black as coal. Reflected back was his face, and the beard he was growing. He had not shaved for many days now, and looked far older than he felt.

It had always been like that for him.

Always, he had put pressure on himself to be the best, the most skilled swordsman, the fastest runner, and the most honored of the Conerian Guard. But with that pressure came more and more responsibility, to leave the life of being an ordinary youth behind for the life of knight. And now, looking back at his short life, there were parts of memories that seemed straight from the old legends, and others parts which were too extraordinary to comprehend.

His thoughts turned to his dreams, the recurring nightmare that plagued his mind and sleep every day. The only thing he feared to encounter. Tiamat, the Fiend of Wind, who made abrupt visits to his sleep, showing him a perspective of the world: ruined because of the Light Warriors.

With this horror, all three of the Fiend of Air's heads turned to him, each eye a crimson orb staring into his soul, asking for his vow to join in conquering this world...

"Only a nightmare," he whispered to himself. The black mage looked at him, darkness hiding all but his yellow eyes, but said nothing.

Jakk pulled the Lute Sara had given him and played a jolly song, his fingers moving quickly up and down the holes of the wooden instrument, its tune striking a quick but oddly sober beat inside Klad's head.

He stopped suddenly, looking at the fish Bane and Tanka had skillfully caught for their dinner.

"I used to play tunes to earn a supper," Jakk said, eyes empty as he stared into the flames. "It seems I still earn my suppers this way," he laughed, holding the lute by the fire, and then putting it back into his pocket. A memory of Sara, wherever she was.

"Dead man's dance," Tanka said in a rumbling voice. "That is the name of the tune. Sailors play it too."

Bane spit out a fish bone as he ate.

"Why play a distressing song now, thief?"

Jakk did not respond, but Klad smiled as he caught the man's mutterings.

"Because being a Light Warrior means you're a dead man."

The youth looked at the fish bones scattered on the ground, giving a content sigh.

"Bane, do you have any idea where we are?"

The mage looked up thoughtfully. "I believe we are northwest, on the outskirts of the Kingdom. Maybe not, however. Though some elvish blood I may possess, I am human also, and never have I been to here, though I know of its language and customs."

The man, if he was a man, Jakk thought, stood, grabbed a fallen stick, fallen fresh from a giant tree, and drew a rough sketch of the continent they were on. He pointed somewhere in the top left of the stretch of fish-like continent, with a head of the hammer and angular body, complete with a tail.

"I believe we are here, between the edges of the Silver Mountains and _Tacylan_ Forest. To the west," the mage pointed west, to the snow capped peaks, "there lies the wilder parts of Elfland. To the east, the Plain of Merado, and beyond that, impenetrable peaks and rivers that lead to the village of Crescent Lake." He eyed his attentive audience. "For where Luhkan is, and where he meant for us to go when we were done here. That, however, does not seem possible, for now."

He pointed to his crude map, to the south.

"The city of _Danlanni_ lies slightly southeast of us. It is here we must go."

"_Danlanni_?" Jakk said. "What kind of name is that. It sounds like the fish's name I just had for dinner."

Bane's eyes twinkled. "That was _Tarannyla_, Jakk. Many of the things that come from the sea end or begin with the word _anni_, from the goddess Friend who created them. _Anni_ means sea, and _Danl_, continent, in the ancient speech."

Bane cocked his head to the horizon where the sun was setting in the east.

"And this indeed the sea continent, for many leagues of shore touch it, when _Danador_ was broken, and much of this land is covered in green rivers and white peaks."

Klad shifted from the tree stump he sat. Ever since they approached Elfland, the friendlier the mysterious man, elf, whatever he was, became. Why?

And that name. _Bane_. He never had told Jakk or Aki about that particular name. He knew its meaning in the ancient speech from his tutelage by Luhkan and the other sages of Coneria, and wondered why someone would name himself, what roughly translated as, _The Last_. _The Last?_ What does that mean?

_"Taro suna sen astasted?"_

Three pairs of eyes whirled on the young knight, as he haltingly spoke those words.

"How do you know Elvish, Klad?" Bane's eyes, narrowed to slits, never matched that calm voice.

"Before I went to on this quest, I was the secretary and errand-runner for Lukhan. Call it a lowly position for the King's Guards," Klad explained, looking at the surprise from Jakk and Tanka. Clearly they expected a Lord of House Haasions to have a more important job," but I am young and leading a company of knights are for the experienced."

_However he said those words,_ Jakk thought, _he clearly means he _was _experienced._ Klad continued.

"The lore-master chose me because of my extensive knowledge in the Prophecies, history, and other languages."

Bane bowed his head. "Then you are indeed something of a renaissance man, Ryar of House Haasions. _Tamkil unsano_." Omniscient Soul.

"You never answered my question though, Bane. How old are you?"

* * *

Aki paced the village of Famul, accompanied by Sara. Whatever she had just heard Ellya, she scarcely believed half of it. Elfland, in civil war? Madness!

Though the streets were unpaved, the village that was overlooked by the grim battlements and towers of _Lord_ Emien Taylas—another surprise—were clean and settled, as vendors displayed their wares and sold snacks and fresh fruits. Men and women, in multicolored, bright shirts, skirts, dresses, and trousers, contrasted the plain white and red cloth of Aki's though Sara's light yellow summer dress fit in more with the populace. It if not for the ominous battlements and grim men that loomed over the village on the dark castle grounds, it would not have seemed that Elfland was tearing itself apart.

It had been days now since the incident aboard the _Everlasting_, and only hours before the two girls were well rested enough to journey out of the cottage and into Famul. And they had just learned about the chaos in Elfland.

Though she was a Princess, Sara had obviously caroused busy streets before, as Aki noticed Sara looking at the goods of merchants and looking wary of any suspicious passerbys.

"How could the Elves kill their own people, like these?" she asked, in a low murmur.

"These are not Elves, but humans like Lord Taylas. And Elles obviously is crazed with power to kill these people."

The white mage sidestepped a street magician, who produced a boutique of exquisite flowers for Sara, bowing elaborately with his top hat off as Sara took the flowers, that everlasting smile on her face.

Aki's white mage cloak received some attention, though all of them were polite nods of respect. Humans here on the Elvish continent learned to accept magic long ago because of the Elves' own magical abilities, and they were less discriminating than other humans.

It was Ellya who had told them what was going on. Prince Ellya, brother of Prince Elles, on the throne of Elfland. Emien Taylas was still too enraged to find words for the Elvish betrayal and slaughter, for he was the First Lord, the man who governed the manors, towns, and villages on the outskirts of the Great Forest, on the Plain of Merado. Most of the townspeople and farmers were human or half elvish, who lived in peace with their almost immortal, pointy eared neighbors.

Until, Ellya had said, his brother had gone mad.

Some said Taylas had become a threat to the Elder of Ellya, and others said it was the uncertainy of the world, and the comings of the Fiends that had led Elles to launch attacks on the peaceful villages. But others had wondered if it was the Light Warriors, those who would be the harbingers of the coming of the need to unite, with men, dwarves, and dragons, now all of them so despised in Elfland, that prompted the Prince to show that Elfland could keep its own in a war, Fiends or otherwise.

That was why Aki had her orb in a pocket, and she had told the Prince and Lord that she was a simple traveler from Coneria, a white mage. They accepted her answer, and Sara's, who had told them she was a merchant, and that her ship was the _Everlasting._ And now, Elles was starting to burn and crush the humans in the east, while burrowing out the imp bands and wolf packs in the west.

But a minority of Elves had slipped away from the war, led by Ellya, to fight for the humans, who had chosen Taylas to lead them.

Thus, a kingdom of elves and men, was divided. All, it seemed to Aki, because of rumors.

She could not stop the chill in her spine. _A harbinger of things to come, a taste of chaos the _Alatari _would bring if the _Betar _could not unite the creations of the _Tari _under one banner._

But the Light Warriors would first have to be together if they wished to help. And Aki would have to find the rest of them.

They reached the Prancing Pony Stables, where Taylas had put Daila and Rose after all horses were found in the _Everlasting _alive—but unnerved by the water.

Now the two mares, Daila, delicate and beautiful, white with brown spots, and Rose, her brownish red mane shining in the sun, looked happy and content, both well fed and rested. Sara, like a child, gave her flowers to Daila, to smell perhaps, Aki thought, though she should know better. She quickly learned the horse liked flowers as much as apples.

Sara laughed, then opened the gate and strapped on the saddle, like Aki did. The mage smiled too, and then looked over to the three other horses she knew: Strider, Basyi, and Darter, the horses of Klad, Jakk, and Bane.

_We'll find your riders,_ she thought, softly, giving Strider a pat on the nose.

"Should we tell Ellya then?" Sara asked.

Aki nodded. "Though he is kind hearted, I don't think even an Elf lord would be tender enough if we disappeared so suddenly."

"And Emi?" She referred to what the Elves fondly called the First Lord.

"I think he is in a scouting party now, in the western forests."

Sara nodded, her summer riding dress dividing neatly as she gracefully climbed her horse. Aki followed, thankful her mage cloak was suitable for riding.

On horseback ,the gentle gallop to the cottage where Ellya stayed because of the dampness of Taylas' fortress took only a few minutes time after they had bought provisions for their journey.

The cheery, dark haired elf was rubbing his bowstring with beeswax, the bow taller than he, as he noticed their arrival. A grin split his innocent face, as tufts of hair not caught by the topknot blew everywhere, shielding his ancient gaze from their eyes.

"Ah, the two sleepyheads! How does the day go; for the mage and the merchant?"

"Fine as any, Lord Ellya," Aki said lamely.

The Elvish lord made her feel childish and awkward with the ancient wisdom washing over them, though he tried to hide it. Ellya gave off that feeling of power in an ancient soul, hidden carefully under that cheeriness.

They dismounted, bowing low.

"Lord Taylas and your hospitality have been gratefully accepted by the crew of our ship and by ourselves, and no words of this gratitude can be said or done for what you have done," Sara eloquently stated.

Aki tried hard not to smile and look at her friend. Being friends with a Princess had a usefulness at times.

"But, my lord, we must depart to search of our friends. We leave in haste," Aki continued, sighing in relief. She had said it all, and now, hopefully, they could leave.

Ellya frowned. He sat quietly on the flat stone, and then looked up to them.

"Sara, you've been eyeing my bow with interest. Would you like a shot?"

The Princess looked startled, but nodded. "My father took me hunting when I was young. I've learned how to shoot, though not well."

She took the bow and yellow feathered arrow, long but exceptionally light, and gracefully notched it, pulling the string with ever increasing amounts of pressure as she aimed at the small red circle in the middle of the wooden target, painted a shade of different colors in circles.

The fresh blast of air resulting in the release rushed through Sara's ears, making her hair fly around, as the arrow, with a solid _thunk_, hit the circle, two hundred paces from her. Sara grinned.

Ellya clapped his hands. "Good, very good!" He held five arrows, one the twin of the shaft Sara had just shot, the other four green feathered, shorter and heavier than the other. "Now let me show you me skills," he said with modesty.

He took the bow, notching one green feathered arrow into it without force, breathed a sigh, and then looked at the target. With a blur of speed, he aim, shot, and took another green feathered arrow, aimed and shot, repeating with all five arrows, saving the yellow one for last.

The first four hit the outside corners of the target, each on the four directions, forming perfect compass markers.

_North._

_South._

_East._

_West._

The last yellow feathered arrow hit the center of the target, splitting Sara's arrow with a loud _crack._

Ellya smiled at the astonished faces.

"That is called a five point troll shot," he said. "I have spent fifty years perfecting it." He pulled out another green arrow out. "Four heavy arrows for each of the troll's most vulnerable areas: head, arms, and stomach." He pointed to the arrowhead, the sharp, vicious point enough to pierce armor or the hard skin of a troll. "And a fifth arrow, light but long, to pierce the heart in the middle of the beast." With a seriousness tone that never reached his face, Ellya turned around to them.

"If you go search for them, you will meet these monsters. Along with plenty of another dark spawn. Can you fight them off?"

Aki shook her head. "But they are our friends. They must be found, they must be alive!"

Gently, the elf smiled. "And they will be, mage Aki. We'll not abandon them. Captain Haust told us of your situation before you both were awake. We have sent scouts, my most trusted brethren, to search the shores and forests."

The white mage bowed as Sara curtsied humbly. "Then we thank you again, Lord Ellya."

"You honor me too greatly! I am an outcast, with a death warrant in my own kingdom." He smiled thoughtfully of this.

The sound of hooves reach their ears before they could say anymore. From the west, the scouting party, men and elves on large warhorses, came in, bear emblem on a gray banner marking Taylas' return. But the man was not on a horse. From the back, a litter, supported by two slowly moving horses, came forward.

An elvish horseman, bow slung on his back, neared the three, looking worriedly at Ellya.

_"Selan, ae Taylas."_

_"Tara wa?"_

_"Celeath."_

Ellya raced towards the litter, followed by Sara and Aki.

"He has been wounded?"

"Yes, seriously." He looked at Aki. "He may require your help."

"I'm ready."

Four men gingerly carried their lord into the cottage. Aki swallowed his gasp and averted her eyes at the sight of the broken man, while Sara's sharp intake of breathe showed how gruesome the wounds were.

A voice, half sounding like her father's and the other half sounding like her own, delicately reminded her that she was a white mage. _Blood may be a bane to the eye, but it shows only death to the man who is losing it._ Another of her father's saying. She looked.

The placid expression on the First Lord's face was gone, replaced by an intense pain as he was carried unconscious into the house. A side of his face was raw and bloodied, skin hanging ragged under the golden hair. His gauntlets gripped his broadsword tightly.

They laid him down on the cot that Aki had first laid in, the one where Emien Taylas had first greeted her. Now it was time to greet him. Ellya moved back and nodded to her.

"Emi? Can you hear men?"

Managing a weak groan which Aki took as a yes, she gently brushed his hair away from the wound on his head, only to find another one, an arrow shaft hastily broken and protruding out of his shoulder.

"Ellya? Do you have any herbs to relieve his pain?"

"Here." He handed her white, heavy bay leaves, their color a milky substance like cow's milk. She smoothed them with her hand, and then applied it firmly onto the side of his head. The man winced, releasing the grip of the sword so an attendant could take it away. Wounded men were just as dangerous with a blade as whole men.

_Now it will be easier for me to work. The shaft first._

Calmly, she spoke, to relieve the tension in the room.

"What happened?" she asked, as she inspected the arrow and felt his breathing. Rapid.

One of the men spoke angrily.

"Ambushed, healer. Elves of Elles rushed out of the trees, arrows already whining. Our lord was one of the first to be hit. He told us to pull back, but an elven blade came at the side of his face. Hence the other wound." The man took a deep breathe before continuing.

"Our lord is a noble man, and though we are at war with the _kalchem_, our elvish brothers, he ordered our men to fight to wound, not to kill."

"Indeed." Aki strained to calm her face. Men being noble; it half made her sick. Being noble in war was another way of inviting death.

Shafts of light came from the palm of her hands. The first step of removing a foreign object from a body. The blood, freely pouring from the shoulder wound, abruptly stopped. A tendril of light reached for the broken arrow, like an octopus' tentacle. Human hands were too tough for removing an arrow, but her _Tari_ gifted hands could remove something without touching it. The arrow came free slowly, the thin strand of light wrapped around it, as the arrowhead, as it was removed, dripped blood. Emi hardly groaned.

Now for the face, she thought. The leaves she removed; it was already sticky with blood. The mage knew she could not heal the damage to the skin; no, she could not make a man look normal again. She could only heal and stop physical pain. Watching the man's shallow breathing, she timed her magic at the right moment. As he took an inhale of air, she released an orb of glowing light from her hand.

_...a light to wash him, a light to cool him, a light to burn him, a light to heal..._

The orb entered the side of his face, and she knew he would feel a cool, tingling sensation before it would disappear, along with the pain. His breathing became normal, as the bleeding stopped and dead skin dryly curled. His wound began to slowly heal.

For a moment, Aki had difficulty standing up—spots appeared before her eyes—but she force herself to stand, even though all that magic hand sapped her strength. She smiled at Sara and Ellya, before her fatigued body could not stand any longer. Her eyes rolled back and she collapsed into unconsciousness.

_Author's Note: Yep, Prancing Pony is the name of the inn in Lord of the Rings, and Strider the horse is back again. I'd just like to point that those names were just inserted in here because LOTR was one of the first fantasy novels and I really like it. _


	16. Chapter 15: A Face Revealed

Chapter Fifteen: A Face Revealed

Bane's eyes flickered no more as Klad repeated his question. Jakk and Tanka gazed curiously at the mage.

"How old am I?" Bane repeated, musing.

"I am a half elf, remember, not as long living as my ancestors. But...I am still quite young, in elven terms. Some four hundred years or more. I have lost track. It is difficult, after that long of living. Does that answer your question?"

Klad nodded.

"May I ask one?"

"Of course."

"Who calls themselves 'shell'?"

Klad laughed heartily. "I was wondering when you were going to ask me that. Yes, my nickname does mean 'shell' in the old speech, though it was not me that gave myself that name. Master Luhkan did. Luhkan never knew me before I was his assistant; the first day I walked into his chamber, in my battle armor, fresh from training, he nearly shooed me away before I could explain that I was to be his new aide."

Fondly, the knight touched his gauntlets. His chest armor was long abandoned on the beach.

"He never expected a soldier like me to know so much about the history of Gaia. And so he gave me the name _Klad_, meaning 'shell,' for my armor was my shell, and my sword the only thing that can penetrate it."

The faint pride that sank into Klad's voice immediately vanished, as Bane's eyes flickered silently again.

"But your house, Klad. It is not of house of Coneria, Haasions. You are not Conerian yourself."

The nostalgia and fondness that the knight possessed was now gone.

"Elsor is a strange name too, and Elsor..." Klad trailed off quietly. "Many secrets still lie within us, and all of us," he said, looking at Jakk before turning back to face the mage. "and for now, it is perhaps better they are left unanswered." Unconsciously, Klad was fingering his sword hilt as Bane toyed with a knifepoint in his hand.

The sailor Tanka sensed the tension, quietly staring into the flames as if all were right, while Jakk nervously interceded.

"I wonder, if they are sleeping softly in Danlanni, or if they are on the _Everlasting_, searching for us. Or our bodies." Jakk laughed, feeling the slim lute Sara had given him. _"For two thousand years, this lute has been passed from Queen to Princess. But perhaps with arrival of the Light Warriors, it should be passed to one of them. Take it, Jakk. And play it when you think of me." And with that, she gave him a peck on the cheek before running off._

"Blast, Jakk said aloud. " I really do miss her. How lucky for a thief am I! A rapier from the ruler of Pravoka and a lute from the Princess of Coneria. Maybe the Elf folk have a princess of their own."

The brief moment of anxiety passed between the knight and mage, and then they nodded to each other.

"Another time, another world, we might have fought. But we stand as brothers now, for the sake of all we love."

And quietly, they settled on the ground, contemplating the twinkling stars as the fire flickered out.

The momentary joy of silence was broken with the cracking of a twig.

Klad lifted his sword slightly out of his scabbard. Knives appeared in Bane's hands. Jakk reached for his rapier lying in the dirt, and as he did so, an arrow whistled by and grotesquely struck the surprised Tanka in the chest. The man fell back onto the ground, dead.

From the shadows of the forest, a score of elves in bronze breastplates and leaf green uniforms camouflaging their bodies came out, each holding a tightly notched, slim bow, ready to shoot.

Bane turned to the dead sailor, eyes narrowing dangerously as he exploded in rage, turning back to the elves, his voice deep and blazing with the fireballs he could produce from his hands.

_"Tan ae leaneath? tan ae leaneath y hastan?"_

"Do you know who I am?" he bellowed, only now in a language Jakk could understand. "Do you know who I am? I am an elf"

The yellow hat was removed, and the hood was down. The face with yellow eyes was revealed.

* * *

The elf in the body of Elles nodded for his scout to speak. The servant, loyal to Elles, had no idea that the real prince was half dead in a private chamber, stuffed inside a closet, and that an imposter sat on the throne.

"Speak," Astos said, his words clear the Aldi herself, and it sounded every bit like the Prince himself.

"Many things to report, my lord. The _keldori_, Taylas, has been grievously wounded in a skirmish with our forces. They are weakening, these rabble of men and elves, and we could crush them now; without them, our eastern wars with the imps and trolls would be much easier..." The scout paused as his lord looked thoughtfully out the window.

_Keldori._ There was no accurate translation, but the closest meaning to common speech was 'outcast.' Astos smiled again. That fool Taylas and Elles' brother, Ellya, were waging a war on him with their village whelp and other fool elves, and the only word proper to describe them were outcasts of the new elven empire.

"Anything else?"

"Yes, my lord. Scouting parties searching for the four men have not found anything so far, though they continue to press. My lord..." The scout's elvish ears twitched. "These men, are they worth the effort. My scouts could be used elsewhere my lord...and these four could be dead."

"They could. You will continue you search, Ayuma, before I shall call you for anything else." But the men...they did not matter. "Hasten the army. With Taylas gravely wounded, the _keldori_ will not stand for long. We leave for Famul on the Plain of Merado by sunset. There, they will be crushed."

And so would the Light Warriors.

* * *

It was not a man's face. No face, no matter how burnt in the sun, could be as raw a red as Bane's. It took a second more Jakk to realize that the mage had no skin, that instead, a covering of red flesh stretched out from everywhere, and those glowing yellow eyes were the only things vaguely human. Yet even the flesh was bound together by stitches, holding only the essence of a face intact. The rest was gone.

More than one of the fair elves, a second before bound to end the fate of three youths in the forest, yelped and cried aloud in terror, dropping their bows and arrows. Very soon, all of them were gone.

Before Bane turned to face his companions standing near him, the yellow hat floated back onto his head, shadows concealing all except those blazing eyes. Jakk's horror quickly turned into disgust as his fish meal quickly came out of his mouth. Klad said nothing, but his eyes mingled curiosity with surprise.

"An unfortunate accident in my childhood. Tell Aki and Sara none of this when we reach them. They have enough on their minds," the half elf stated, a note of finality in his voice. Klad nodded.

"We must bury this man and move on," the mage said, and with a flick of his fingers dirt began to fly from the ground, digging itself into a shape of a grave.

Jakk shook his head, looking at Bane. "Have you no remorse? You sound like you're burying a dead rat. Not a man whom spent his last days with us."

The mage looked in silence at the ground. "You're a lucky thief, Skyar." Had you not reached for your rapier, you uwould now be on the ground, not him. Yes, Tanka is dead, but he died as a man. I remorse, in my own way. _Wesfan ae sol Gaia._ May he rest in the soul of Gaia."

"And many the _Tari_ protect him," another voice said, from out of the forest. A single elf clad in blue appeared, long sword gleaming in the night sky.


	17. Chapter 16: On the Plain of Merado

Chapter Sixteen: On the Plain of Merado

"Have no fear humans and brother!" The elf in blue looked ever so jolly even though Klad, Jakk, and Bane all sported weapons. The elvish longsword hung limply in his hands, his bow strung on his shoulder like a knapsack.

"My name is Sira, serving with Lord Ellya's _keldori_."

Bane lowered his knives as he heard this, and then turned to Klad. "Help Jakk bury Tanka's body. I will talk to him." Klad met the mage's eyes and nodded, signaling Jakk to help him.

Bane turned back and walked towards Sira.

"_Keldori?_ Does that mean Ellya is leading a rebellion against his own brother?"

Sira's eyes darkened. "Elles has gone mad. For power. He's massacred the friends of the elves, humans who live on the edges of the forest, while expanding his 'empire.' And many of my kinsmen are blindly following his lead." Sira bowed his head.

"Why? That doesn't make sense that Elles would do such a thing."

"It is because of omens," the elf's voice dropped to a whisper. "The seas are wild, and none but the sturdiest elven ships can navigate through its rage. Imps and trolls multiply in the mountains. From the north, Coneria shrinks and the traitors of Tekam and Amlador grow strong. And it is said the Light Warriors have been chosen for the final struggle. These things have led all to the unraveling of Elles. "

Jakk gave a panicked look as he listened to the elf, while reaching into his pocket. The sad silence disappeared at once as the elf brightened at once, looking at the three.

"I suppose you are the friends of the white mage Aki Arkya and Sara May'ana?"

"They are alive, then?" Klad asked.

"Of course! I have been sent by the Lord Ellya to look for you. Tell me your names."

Klad looked at Bane as he covered the last of the dirt on Tanka's grave, and then turned to Sira.

"Ryar Haasions, a knight of Coneria," he said, bowing.

_"May'ana duon elsori ae Coneria."_ May dreams ever shine in Coneria.

The knight responded with the correct saying. _"Aetael Alanner."_ Honor for the sea children.

The thief bowed. "Jakk Skyar."

"And your office in life, sir?"

Jakk answered smoothly enough, though he could faintly hear Bane snickering. "A minor lord of Coneria."

The elf bowed again. "Welcome to Elfland, Lord." The elf bowed, and turned to Bane.

_"Tanna ae nowela Bane Elsor, Sira alanner." _

Sira's confusion over these words was evident, though he tried to hide it. It was the name, Jakk thought. And what lay beneath that hat. The confusion from the elf cleared when a horse neighed from behind them, accompanied by several more brayings.

"Ah, my horses!" He whistled, and four tall mounts with saddles came from the forest view.

"How did you control four horses while searching for us?" Bane asked skeptically. Sira grinned.

"They're stolen, fresh from Elles' army. Only a few days have I had these beauties. Make your words short. Ellya will explain everything. We must hurry back to the camp of Ellya, on the Plain of Merado, many leagues away."

Bane nodded, apparently trusting this strange elf. The others followed him, trusting him in turn, though Jakk's suspicions remained. His mind cleared. _For the weeks I have been in this strange party, almost forgetting why I was brought along, we are all still suspicious of each of our intentions._

"Ow!"

The thief ran straight into Bane's upheld hand. "What blasted thing made you do that?" He asked, rubbing his nose.

"Can you smell it?" the mage asked, ignoring the other man Sira's mouth tightened.

"Yes. A foul stench of Dark Elves. _Kelsari_. The forgotten. They frequent this area, though it seems their odor is stronger now." He leapt onto his mount. "Hurry! A foul smell means trouble for my kingdom."

* * *

Aki, for the second time, awakened in the dingy cottage. Rain splattered on the thatched roof, while gusts of wind howled, knocking on the wooden door. By the other wall, Taylas listened quietly as Ellya talked in a low voice.

"...he's moving elves, Emian. My scouts report stirrings at his camps. Not only that, he is drawing men away from the eastern garrisons to come and crush us. The imps...they may strike my kingdom as we shed blood of our brothers."

"We'll worry about that later, my friend. How long do I have to muster?"

"By tomorrow's morn, Elles and his army will be on the plain."

"Elles is attacking us?" Aki asked, staggering out of her bed. Her limbs were weak, her mind tired, but she knew ignorance of this information would not satisfy her curiosity.

Ellya turned around, smiling at her.

"Yes, my brother is attacking. But he does not know that Taylas is whole again; he thinks Emi is dying. I believe we own this to your skills, Akian Arkya."

He bowed once, low, and exited.

Emi smiled weakly at her.

"yes, I thank you, white mage Arkya. If I survive this oncoming battle, perhaps I can repay you fully."

"None is need, my lord," she said hastily.

Thunder crackled onto the ground, and Aki's nerves suddenly blackened her, and she grasped the rough edge of a table for balance as the world dizzied around her. Vision clouded, she saw only the image of a women, beautiful but sneering at her..._Kary_, the Fiend of Fire. Her head exploded in pain, sending her to the floor with a gasp.

Emi lifted himself out of his cot, taking her by the hand.

"Alright, Aki?"

She nodded, faintly. "I think I will have to sit this battle out, Lord Taylas. My soul and mind are not as strong as I need them to be."

"A wise decision. But I am afraid you will need to be transported to my fortress at Famul. There, you can recover your strength." He looked around at the cottage. "This will probably be the center of the battle."

Aki nodded slowly again, going to the stables while Taylas escorted her. Something was amiss, she thought. Her mind was too drowsy, her body too weak after constant rest. What was happening? She fought briefly to think this through, before she succumbed to the pain. In a breast pocket, her orb glowed feverishly, though not heat emanated from the sphere.

Sara looked worriedly as her friend, slumped on Rose, rode out to Famul. What was wrong with her?

"Lord Ellya!" Her hair fluttered behind her as she ran up to him. "Aki--what happened?"

Like the other times she had encountered her, he gave a smile, although she knew by now it was not genuine. Elves rarely showed their true feelings.

"Healing in Famul, or so Emi has told me. The magic she produced to save the First Lord was enough to sufficiently keep her in bed." He cocked his head towards the stables, where a groom was holding Daila by the bridle.

"Your horse awaits with an escort to Famul. This is no place for you to be."

Sara frowned. "Women of Coneria do not and have not slink when need calls them."

"But women of Coneria have also understood the necessity of surviving when hope may lost," Ellya replied wearily.

"You are saying that there is not hope for you and Taylas?"

"Not unless the Light Warriors themselves are present," Ellya replied. Sara saw that he meant that as a jest, but something, a flicker of recognition passed through his face, as though he knew something was odd.

"You need archers. I am one. I will not go back, slinking behind stone walls to wait your brother's final assault."

Ellya eyed her for a second, a hard gaze, holding her in paralysis. Sara felt a flush or red starting to creep up her face. She had disobeyed an elven prince!"

"Very well."

He stalked away.

* * *

Onward they rode, following the paths of those left over the years by elven scouts and messengers. With little rest, their horses bore them as swiftly as Jakk's own _Basyi_ had. He felt a pang of regret, hoping Trickster was not in the bottom of the ocean, drowned in a ship.

But these horses they now rode on were not ordinary. With the little rest they did get, both Sira and Bane whispered to these steeds while stroking their manes, seeming to bewitch them to carry them further with little rest or food.

And though the forests looked untamed, with tall trees shadowing their four steeds, Sira lead them with no fear.

"In the days past, these trees were allowed to grow without fear, for though we come from the sea, we love all that is green and grown from the roots of Gaia," Sira said, galloping with Jakk while Klad and Bane rode at the rear. "But in days past, imps, fresh from the mountains, have used these trees as places of ambush and death, and to burn." Sira looked mournfully to the north. "Elles allowed imps to burn a large portion of the northern _Tacylan _forest, though it was to lead them into a trap in which those imps were annihilated."

For the second time in recent memory, Jakk, so caught up in Sira's words, felt a jolt as his horse buckled, and he fell off the rear, landing painfully on his rear. Vaguely human, the horse snorted, while the other three smiled. They had approached a steep path now, onto the mountain paths where the elven city lay in the basin of flat land.

Jakk grumbled, starting to rise before giving a gasp. On the edge of the path, where a steep drop lead down below to the Green River, there lay a sinuous snake of blue and green, moving on the other side of the blue waters. He pointed, and Sira's elven eyes widened. The snake was a long line of men.

"Elles' army. Rows of archers and swordsmen. By the light of Gaia, they're heading towards the Merado!" The elf's horse whinnied as he ordered his mount to move. "Quickly, we must go faster!"

Galloping faster, they shadowed the snake.

* * *

Nervously, Sara fiddled with her bow in the center of the group of elves. Ellya, clad in blue tipped, silver armor with a cloak that seemed to be made of the same stuff as Aki's mage cloak, smiled at her, his hair tied back in a topknot on his head. To the left and right of them, five hundred of Ellya's _keldori_, all of them in blue tipped, silver armor and with dark gray cloaks, looked silently at their approaching brethren.

They were on the hill, with the old cottage behind their backs, and below them, on the plain of Merado, the army of Elles. Thousands of elves, in green with yellow cloaks stood before them, the backdrop of trees blending perfectly with the mass of green. All of them, loyal to their Prince, Elles.

Taylas' men, bearing the bear banners, the emblem of the First Lord, stood below them, on that plain, barely a thousand swords and pikesmen. Taylas stood, armor glinting off the sun, his sword almost carelessly held in his hand.

"Fools," Ellya murmured quietly, as he surveyed the elves, as they separated into companies of spearmen, swordsmen, and archers. "Elles could not have summoned an army that big without emptying the eastern garrisons. Imps and trolls are now free to burst out from the mountain." He shook his head sadly.

_"Aeleath ae kethan, mosa?"_ What do you seek to do, brother?

"Crossbows, Ellya. They'll run under the cover of their archers." The First Lord turned around and looked up at the low hill where the Elven prince stood. "May the _Tari_ help us. Good luck, brother."

"The same to you, Emi," Ellya shouted back.

"They're coming?" Sara asked, trying to hold back the tremble in her voice.

"Yes," Ellya said, notching his bow with an arrow, "they come."

The first lines of green elven swordsmen unsheathed their weapons, the glare of a thousand swords blinding to Sara. Gulping down any fear, she notched a yellow-feathered arrow. _For the Dream Kingdom, and all good in this world. May the _Tari _help me._

"Shields!" Taylas' roaring command was followed by perfect unity as hundreds of his men formed a shield wall comprised of tightly packed shields, each bearing the image of a black bear. As the lines of Elles' swordsmen advanced, followed by trails in the air, of short iron arrows.

In a synchronized, perfect line, hundreds of crossbow arrows made a terrific _clanging_ noise on the metal shields, every one of them landing to form a perfect line. Sara realized the worse: this was no jest, and she was actually in a battle, waiting for a thousand elven swordsmen who had just demonstrated that their archers had the skill and accuracy as Ellya showed her with the troll shot.

Another hail of arrows. _The first was probably a range shot,_ she thought. The princess was right. The second line of arrows hit the small cracks and chinks in the dense wall of shields, as men cried out, hit by thick iron shafts. Another line, more cries, and then Ellya raised his longbow and five hundred of his elves, with Sara, aimed towards the swiftly moving line of green cloaked swordsmen, all of them converging on the shield wall. Sara look for no particular target, knowing in her heart that just shooting her bow would result in some ancient elf dying in those neat lines of glinting swords.

The _keldori_ line fired, and like elves fell in their green cloaks, blending into the grassy plain except for the dark stains on their bodies. Other straight line from the _keldori_. Another. By the time the shield wall of the First Lord had broke, advancing on the lines of Elles' men, hundreds of them were lying on the grass.

"Find individual targets, and ready your blades!" Ellya said calmly.

The organized lines of men and elves had become a melee of slashing swords and spears, men bearing the emblem of the First Lord clashing with the swift elves of Elles. Scatterings of arrows shot by Ellya's elves killed more of their brethren, while in the far distance, Sara could see the lines of elven archers with crossbows, waiting patiently for the battle to end, confident that their kingdom would prevail over the _keldori_ traitors.

And they were. Despite the litters of wounded and dead on the ground, the thin blades of Elles, who still overwhelmed Taylas' men by hundreds, were pushing them back, up to the hill here Ellya and his archers stood. No more arrows came from the archers.

Another drawing of hundreds of blades glinted in the sun, the glare even more blinding. Ellya kissed his blade, and then, silently, without any wild battlecry, advanced swiftly down the hill to the fray. And Sara did too, thinking how good it would be to kiss Jakk for one last time. Clad in a blue cloak and armor like Ellya's men, she knew she would appear to be like one of the _keldori_.

The roar of thunder startled her. She looked up, as the surge of elves, from both sides stopped, looking towards the sky as if something was there to be seen. No rain was there, and the sun still shone brightly on the bodies of the slain. It took a second for everyone, elves and humans, to realize the battle had stopped, though some appeared intent on starting again.

The thunder rolled again before men could raise their blades and forget the odd phenomenon, before they could register in their minds as an omen of some kind. But it was not thunder, but a thunderous call, that, in a clear voice, shouted a single word.

_"Mashi!"_

Like the others, she looked back to where the forest gave way to lowland grassy plain, and there, riding out of the forest, four horsemen rode toward the still battleground.

She squinted, and the yellow straw hat, two swords, and a bow were visible over the tops of the helmets of tall elves.

_Jakk! Klad! Bane! They're here...

* * *

_

From his horse, the elf known as Elles turned around to the back of his army, watching as the four horsemen cleared the trees. _The Warriors! _

Snarling, he turned his steed around to face them. "Give me my spear."

His retainer complied, holding out the silver spear for an instant before his Prince grasped it, hurrying his horse to meet them. His guards followed.

"Stay!" he bellowed, and then picked up speed, urging his mount on.

* * *

Sira, with the grace only an elf could possess, drew an arrow and notched it.

"May his soul rest in the soul of Gaia," Sira murmured, aiming for the charging prince.

"Sira, no!" Bane shouted, but the shaft flew towards the heart. Elles raised his free hand, as in the attempt to ward it off, and as the streak approached the arrow bounced off, hitting nothing but the swift wind.

The other hand held the spear, and the Prince threw it, skillfully and savagely, at the charging elf, hitting the surprised Sira in his heart. He gave a gasp, letting go of the reins, following to the ground.

Klad's stunned face could not see the elf prince's mutterings of an incantation, as a streak of blue flame burst from his mouth. The Light Warriors stopped their horses as Bane lifted up his hands, and the flame, like shaft, hit nothing but air and dissipated. Elles drew his saber before the streak hit, and slashed at Klad, who instinct blocked it with his sword.

Elles leapt back from the three, playing one last trick by hurling a knife at Jakk.

Another near miss.

The thief's experience dodging blows with the city guard of Tranmankand saved him. He threw himself to an awkward position on his horse, the dagger slashing his coat and landing onto his horse's neck. Giving a neigh of fright it threw him off, and he lay there, crumpled.

Astos snarled again. The surprised expression on the hard-eyed youth he faced changed as they circled each other, while the black mage drew much more than daggers out of his sleeves.

But before the mage could react with magic the Prince struck, gruesomely piercing the flesh of the horse and sending it wheeling, blood splashing everywhere, before the sword went up to block Klad's blade.

It was even now, two swordsmen.

On horseback they fought, the knight of Coneria diving in and calmly blocking and slashing elven saber. A feral grin, as one would expect on the face of a madmen, arose on the prince's face, as they moved their horses away from each other. The knight's heavy breathing indicated the elf's success, nine years of blade training was nothing to the nine hundred Astos had sustained.

They charged, blades clanging again as the elves on the plain, both _keldori_ and the army of Elles, watched.

A rip on the shirtsleeve erupted blood onto Astos' blade, as the knight calmly took the blow. Another slice made his blade red, his own blood dripping on his sword.

The knight sagged on his horse, no longer straight backed. He back his horse away.

Astos smiled. It was almost done.

He flicked the reins of his mount, charging for one last time at the blood-drained form of the knight, and then leapt up, blade draw, to deliver the killing blow.

And quickly, Klad's blade penetrated, driving deep into the body as the Prince's blade stopped at his chest, drawing a prick of blood.

Elles slid lifeless onto the ground.

But it was not Elles' face on the ground, as Klad watched the hair slowly disappear, replaced by two horn-like objects. The skin was not fair anymore, but green, a pale shade of green that complimented the two lifeless eyes that had gone from orbs of clear blue to dark red.

Klad dropped to the grass, his sword hanging limply in his hand.

"A dark elf!" Bane said hoarsely, his blue robes covered in blood.

"It...it is not Elles?"

"No. An impersonator. By the _Tari_, Elles did not go mad!"

They could say no more. For out of the forest, hundreds of these green skinned elves in armor, not a hundred paces from where they stood, rushed at them, swords and spears at hand.

Behind the knight and mage, the _keldori _and elves of Elles were separating into rows, their expressions grim as they realized that the blood they had shed was due to the most unlikely of evils.

Sara watched as the three Warriors dragged themselves to their lines, pursued by the angry howls of revenge for the death of the elf in the disguise of Elles.


	18. Chapter 17: Two Swords and a Key

Chapter Seventeen: Two Swords and a Key

_"Is this a dream? Are you the Light Warriors? So, as the legend says, I give you the mystic key."_

Final Fantasy I

The Prince woke to faces staring at him. Three were familiar: his brother Ellya and two attendants. The other three faces were not; two men, men of the north by their clothes, and a mage with yellow eyes and no face.

As if he had not spoken for a long time, the Prince of Elfland croaked his words.

"Where am I? Where have I been? Who are these people?"

"You have been asleep for a very long time, my brother," Ellya responded, a usual grin on his face. He looked more worn, tired as the creases in his smile seemed more pronounced. Ellya always covered his feelings with a smile.

"Ellya...is this a dream?" He blinked again, taking in his surroundings. It was his private chamber, and the curtains were undrawn to reveal sunlight that was streaming into the gardens. The room had been rearranged, its priceless elderwood furniture moved in an odd setting that made him uncomfortable. And something felt strange.

"What was the last thing you remember, Elles?"

The elf said nothing for a moment. His memory was normally perfect; it had to be for he was a ruler and depended on a sharp memory to recall things...so had it been for hundreds of years.

But his mind as nothing but blackness. He shook his head. "Nothing. I remember little of my actions."

He started at his surroundings again. The strangers were not elvish by garb or features.

"Who are these men?" he asked questioningly.

Ellya's smile deepened. "Men that you tried to kill, though quite by accident." His younger brother walked around, pacing in the room, his face working into the familiar expression, lost in thoughts. "We found you stuffed in a closet, body alive, though barely, and reeking of the jayas plant. You were drugged, for quite awhile, before these strangers helped in your rescue."

He stopped, deciding his enigmatic grin was finally starting to make his eldest sibling mad.

"My brother, you have been asleep for months, as a Dark Elf imposter took your throne and lead a war against Lord Taylas. Imps and trolls have meanwhile burst out of the western forests, setting fire to trees, and many of our kinsmen have been slain in a battle in which the imposter started."

He paused for the words to sink before raising his hand and pointing to the three men.

"These men saved you, saved our Kingdom from further madness and strife. Three of the four Light Warriors."

* * *

Sara, swan-princess of Coneria, glanced at her friend's pale face, biting her lip in frustration. Aki looked no better, though she was smiling at her, sitting in bed at the Famul Castle.

"I'm fine, Sara. Really. Just tell me where the others are." The voice had a hard edge, one that Sara had never heard before. The white mage's skin was now taut as she tried to relax her smile. Forced a smile, Sara thought. She brushed back the fiery red hair and reached to touch Aki's forehead to see how hot it was.

Aki irritably drew her head away. Hesitantly, Sara rest her hand, and sat back down, watching the sunlight pour in.

"Oh Aki, you have no idea how worried were about you!" The nurse said she didn't know if you were going to make it, you shivered and cried out in your sleep." She reached to hold one of those clammy hands. "Ellya came in just before you were starting to convulse, his armor still on, sword dripping with dark blood, and he reached and touch you, and somehow made you better." She paused.

The smile became a little odd for Sara's liking. "Aki-"

"Answer my question."

It was so unlike the mage Sara blinked in surprise. That voice, normally so quietly calm and soothing, wise and kind, radiating an extraordinary placidness was now commanding as a queen's. The face, a delicate white rose hardened by years of spells and healing, so pretty was she smiled, was now drawn and taut. It was so unlike the mage.

"They are--they are in Danlanni, attending to Prince Elles' recovery. Klad did not want to go, but he had to," Sara murmured, like an afterthought.

Swiftly, Aki got out of bed, standing firmly on her feet.

"Then we shall go meet them."

* * *

Kary opened her eyes, facing her counterpart, a handsome man with dark orbs for eyes, deep as the depths of the seas he came from.

"All is going to plan?" the man said, in a surprisingly raspy voice, like a sea snake's skin slithering onto a rock to warm in the mid-days sun. She had forgotten that Kraken did not like human forms.

"As always. You question my responsibility, brother."

The man smiled, but the smile was hard, and had little warmth. _Like the seas he lives in,_ Kary mused.

"Fire is a fickle beast."

Hardly a veiled insult.

"If you are able to kill the leader of these Light Warriors, turning the rest to our side will not be difficult."

"Killing them all would not be difficult either."

Kraken's eyes narrowed, not into horizontal slits, but into a reptilian, vertical splits, as his eyelids came from the left and right, not up and down as normal humans. The handsome man became more disgusting. "You know Tiamat does not like that idea."

* * *

Not even the Dream Castle of Coneria possessed such brilliance and harmony with nature. The center of the chamber contained one single fountain, spewing a rich spray of mountain water, splashing down onto the marble tile and dripping slowly away into the drains. Surrounding the marble was thick, soft carpet, a velvet green material that seemed to be an genuine growth of ticklish grass of the forest. It made Jakk feel the urge to take off his leather boots, and go barefoot, something he had not done for many days.

The walls were covered with thick creeping vines, and the ceiling had a dangling of chandeliers, crystal stars that perfectly matched the painted heavens.

But it was the amount of knowledge and culture contained in the study that amazed the three. Books lined every wall, thousands of tomes with vines intermingling. A fabulous display of wealth, encased in glass boxes, showed the culture of Gaia: silk tapestry from the port of Pravoka, showing their history as a city-state, fine porcelain and vases of the North, the burnished breastplates and longswords of the Dwarves, metal crafts and ornamental creatures made by the dragons...it was a museum and library in the middle of a forest, surrounded by the warm stone walls of the Elfland Palace.

The map was the centerfold of the study, covering the entire northern wall, as Bane, Klad, and Jakk stopped to gape at the immensity of the world. Elfland, a huge nation by her own right, seemed to be only a smallest portion of the map. It was on the southern most continents, and to the east a vast stretch of impassable peaks lay, with the Gurgu Volcano the spike topping all of the mountains. The easternmost city of the southern continent was the city of Crescent Lake, surrounded by the body of water shaped as a sickle. To the north Coneria stood, its empire still stretching from the edges of the Sind, where the city of Tranmankand stood, a haven in the middle of a sea of sand. It was the world as Klad and Jakk knew, but it was not all of Gaia. Even more north, a landmass with cities and features they had never seen lay, with a desert larger than the Sind encompassing much of the continent was guarded by a circling mountain range. Cities dotted these unknown lands, and as Bane looked at one particular city, surrounded by spacious stretches of green forests, a grim smile hidden by darkness slowly crawled onto his face, unseen by his companions.

"Gaia. I never knew the world to be so big," Jakk murmured.

"Bigger it is still when you step out of your door to see it," Elles responded. he nodded to his brother, and turned back to the three men. "Excuse me. Though I bring you here to give you counsel, my kingdom is at stake because of this recent...incident. I must attend to some other matters beforehand." He referred to the troll bands which had been setting fires to the forest once they burst out of the mountains, because the garrisons that Astos had rounded up for his war against the _keldori_ left the western lands weak and unprotected.

"Please, peruse through the materials in this study." The Prince and his attendants left.

The three youths strode through the chamber cautiously, like men wary of attack or ambushes behind those piles of books. Their contact with society had been limited for weeks, and they were awkwardly adjusting. Their fine tunics and embroidered coats and shirts were stained with hard wear and travel; blood dried on the mage's dark blue robe, and mud was splattered on Jakk's fine leather boots. It had not been a day since their battle with the Dark Elves, and no time had been spared for clothes.

Bane rummaged through a sheaf of parchment interestingly, instantly grasping the archaic tongue and symbols of arcane magic. Jakk stared upward towards the massive map, looking fondly at the memories that the past weeks had comforted him with. A month ago, he was one of the countless street urchins living off whatever they could find on the sandy streets of Tranmankand. And now, all because of an orb, he was a hero.

Not a bad stroke for a thief.

He reached instinctively to see if his items he treasured were still there: the coral rapier Lacee had given him, the Lute of Sara's, and that half-cursed, half luck orb...he breathed a sigh of relief. All there.

Klad ignored the cool sensation of his orb, tucked into a pocket, as he looked in interest at an opened book, a shaft of light sinking into the two front pages and making the drawings of two swords shine.

As he read, his eyes opened wide, blinking in surprise. The swords were not ordinary, though one had once been quite plain, made by the thousands by Dwarves for elves and humans in the war against the Fiends. Cast by adamant, a strong and light metal, they were objects of beauty. But all were lost or destroyed in the end, and all ways of mining the legendary metal forgotten. Only one sword remained: Xcaliber, the blade of the last Amladorian king who sided with the Alatari. The blade was know lost, melted and deformed, and the mystic ore of adamant hidden away by time.

The other blade on the page, Masmune, was the greatest sword made by the sea-elves, and coated on it was a thin harden sheet of obsidian, the same stone that made the orbs. It was the ultimate weapon, capable of destroying the soul of a Fiend with its everlasting sharp edge. But only a mage, powerful in dark magic, could wield that power to kill a taint of the four elements. And the sword, like Xcaliber, was lost.

"What is it, Klad?" Bane asked.

"Two swords," The young knight murmured back. He spoke as though they needed no other explanation.

Bane stood quietly, contemplating.

"I have heard of such swords. Do you think it is the Light Warriors' job to find them?"

Elles can tells us, can't he?" Jakk asked, walking up to them and staring at the illustrations.

"Perhaps Jakk, perhaps."

The youths spun around to see Elles and Ellya, accompanied by a limping Emian Taylas. The Prince of Elfland looked at them perceptively, and Ellya too, stared at them. They had slipped in unnoticed, but it showed how tired the three warriors were, fresh from battle.

After the Dark Elf had been revealed and hundreds of kin cunningly ambushed the fighting Elvish and human forces, Klad, Bane, and Jakk had fled towards Elles' army, watching as their archers and swordsmen reassembled and integrated the humans and keldori they were just fighting. But they were not quick enough to stop the charging Forgotten, a sea of green-skinned, red-eyed elves. Like a battering ram hitting rotten wood, the ranks of elvish archers were impaled by the sharp staves and burned by the black magic of the dark elves, and much blood soddened the fields before Klad and Taylas led the charge to drive them back.

The Conerian Knight prowled on the dark cousins of the ancient ones, slashing and mercifully ending lives quickly before they could used magic against him, while Ellya's bow hummed a vicious death sentence.

Taylas, with the brunt force of a bear like the one adorned on his shield, carved his way out of the mass of elves and lead his men out.

Jakk stared out the window, his remembrance of the battle suddenly gone. Black smoke began to rise out the window outside, covering the sun. A fetid stench that not even the fresh forest scent inside the Elfland study could cover up snaked its way into the thief's nostrils. The burning pyres of the dark elves' corpses.

He remembered most vividly what had happened after the battle.

Ellya, face covered with blood and dirt, walked up to the three, as they recovered from battle. Klad had suffered multiple wounds, including the ones the imposter had given him. Bane's robe was stained with horse's blood. Jakk himself received no wound, though every part of him ached.

But the brother of the prince held their eyes for second, as if confirming something, and then he bowed low, clutching sword to chest. _"Akaleth alanner Betar e duman sel Alatari."_

We honor the warriors of light, and hold true to our creator's word to fight against that Fiends.

The men who heard these words immediately looked at the three, surprise and fear, not fear in them, but fear of what would lie ahead filled their faces, but slowly, it seemed, the whole host of men and elves lowered themselves to the three youths.

Jakk turned back to look at the elves, his daydream gone.

"We know what you seek, Light Warriors. I regret you had arrived at such a dark time for my land, but it was

meant to be, as you three have saved our kingdom." Elles smiled, though serenely. He seemed always serious and committed to the task, unlike his brother.

From his neck he removed a necklace, and gave it to Jakk.

"This belongs to you now, Light Warriors. The Taruna key. Passed down from one Elf Prince to the next. Milennias ago, at the Last Battle, the Temple of Fiends was shut, its gates locked and our host, after fighting through their legions, could not penetrate and break its gates. This key was made by _Omru_, the last thing the Earth Friend made before he left our world. It unlocks any lock, including the Temple Doors."

Jakk dropped the key, and it dully thunked on the grassy floor. Half in amazement, he started at it. _A key that unlocks any lock..._

Bane bent to examine it, and handed it back to the thief, amusement sparkling in his eyes. "Keep it safe."

The chamber doors swung open.

Aki, a fiery cloak matching her hair strode in, queenly and proud, accompanied by Sara.

Elles smiled patiently.

"Good, all four of you have arrived."


	19. Chapter 18: Pieces on a Board

Chapter Eighteen: Pieces on a Board

Startled, Klad was the first to react, rushing forward and embracing Aki with a fierce hug, further startling Jakk and Bane. They had never seen so much emotion from the knight.

"You're alive," Klad said breathlessly. "Are you well?"

Though her skin was drawn, she smiled. Warmly.

"Well enough to meet you."

Elles spoke.

"You are all here now. Good. My greetings to you, mage Akian Arkyas." Elles bowed to her.

"Greetings, Prince Elles. My apologies for my haste."

Her cordial tone had a sting to it, a touch of frost that Jakk could not shake off. She looked different too. Regal, more as a queen, though a sick one. Her face burned with an unnatural pallor, a flush that could be a fever. Her white mage's robes were gone, replaced by a handsome scarlet linen cloth that set off her pleated clothes, the clothes of Elflanders.

Another formal greeting occurred between the princess of Coneria and the Prince, with a deeper and longer bow made by Emian Taylas than the others. Perhaps it was because it was he who doubted she was a princess, or perhaps it was because he had no wife.

The prince bade them to sit, retiring to a chair in the middle of the chamber, as the chandeliers gave off both of sense of light and heat, illuminating the black wooden table, polished to reveal an ancient scene carved onto the table top, of ships flowing with the waves of the Aldi, guided by the most beautiful woman Jakk had ever seen. It was the water Friend, _Alanni._

"You have heard the stories and rumors. Gaia's foundations rumble with discontent and malice, as the four fiends have been loosened from their orbs, to bring this world into another darkness. You four, young souls immersed by our guardians, the Tari, have been chosen to lead the struggle to save Gaia."

Elles put his hands on the desk, opening his palms toward the four.

"This you know, in your hearts, though you have trouble believing it." His eyes flickered to Jakk and Aki. I have put bluntly enough for you now, and I hope you understand what you are endeavoring. Understand this, my friends: though you four lead the world in this battle, many, including my kin, wish to deny the truth. For even the immortal, the Last Battle between Friend and Fiend is a fable, a myth too long to remember. But it is not fable any longer."

A silence followed, like the one that had struck them during their meeting with Luhkan.

Klad responded first.

"This was not the response anticipated, nor the one Luhkan thought we would receive," he replied with nervousness.

Ellya exchanged a genuine smile with his brother, and Taylas grinned too.

"Luhkan? This was exactly what he intended, Ryar of House Haasions. Though you know him by lore-master, he is more than that: much more. A great mage by his own account."

"But he told us that the Prince would tell more of what concerned the Light Warriors with the Prophecies." Jakk stammered.

The elves darkened. "The Prophecies?" Elles repeated. His eyes seemed far away. "The Prophecies are just that: predications of what is to come. It does not have to always come true, and there are some things in that book that are best left _not _to come true. Thank the Tari many have not been fulfilled. They will not guide you."

He stopped, musing over his words.

"No where is it said that the Light Warriors would restore the Prince of Elfland to his throne," Elles concluded.

"But then, what do we do?"

"Come with me."

* * *

The courtyard of the Palace bustled with activity.

The gardens, once pristine, once echoing the twinkling sounds of water splashing onto white marble, were now filled with the anguished groans of the wounded, fresh from the battlefields. Flowers were trampled by boots and hooves, as elven scouts mounted their steeds and sped off, eager to locate the enemy's next movements.

Men, bearing the emblem of the First Lord, rushed past the party, pausing only to bow briefly to Taylas and the Elves. Men who hunted not a day ago.

"Thinks have changed," Bane muttered.

"Yes, they have. We are late in our preparations for war, and we must fortify ourselves before this evil can assail us." Ellya gestured to the Elfland palace itself, three glimmering spikes of marble and stone rising out of the forest, surrounded by many smaller towers. The palace dominated the city skyline.

On one tower, reaching into the sky, men and elves in scaffolding worked like ants scurrying back and forth. They removed, carefully, the stained glass with bars of iron, good for archers, while others reinforced the wall with stone and mortar.

Retainers holding the reins of horses came towards them, dressed as elven scouts, long slender ears hidden beneath hoods of sea blue, capes masking long swords hidden in the waves of _lethean _clothing. Solemnly, one of the attendants stepped forward.

"My prince, I urge you not to go alone, without an escort. Trolls, however lacking in intelligence, have been known to ambush..." Elles silenced him with a wave, and the retainer bowed his head and stepped back.

The Prince mounted on a steed casually, jumping on lightly, while his servants helped Klad, Jakk, Aki, Bane and Sara. Ellya and Taylas looked on.

"You're in charge while I'm gone, brother," Elles said. The younger elf bowed slightly. Taylas returned Elles's nod, and then smiled to the other humans. "You'll not see us in a while," Taylas said, his hoarse voice still grim, "but you five will be in our thoughts. May the fortunes of men and elves be upon you."

Elles smiled, speaking in his own tongue to them. _"Alkaleth al Betar enya takmali."_

The six urged their mounts on, under the cover of the darkening sky. And again, as they did at the Dream Castle, they sped off, their destiny on the path, an elf as a guide. Ellya's words would be the last fair speech they would hear for a long time. A quest, to unite as one, with a common goal, was over. A journey would begin.

* * *

Death was an easier option than what situation Commander Taxu Bes'tan was in. A month now since his city was besieged, by the King's Own--the King's Own! They had surrounded Tranmankand's stone gray walls and forced the city garrison and citizens inside. A month since anything from the outside world had been heard. Tranmankand's isolated position in the Sind Desert meant it depended on trade by caravans for its survival, but the caravans were gone, and whatever was going on in the world was unknown to his people.

Whatever hastily assembled men on horseback that could be summoned to ride to Pravoka were lost. Only the stone walls, stones hauled by Conerian ships and put together by Conerians, and the Tranmankanders--Conerian settlers of long ago--stood against an army of twenty-five thousand Conerians. Madness! How could Coneria attack Tranmankand, the city that stood between civilization and the wild? It was once their own, a proud fortress against the lingering evils of the North. Bes'tan did not believe it.

And he would find out who was attacking his city.

A fierce cloud of sand blanketed his face, causing him to wince and close his eyes while he rode on the ostrich. The creature's eyes fluttered and opened again, protected by those long eyelashes. The animal, the only dependable source of transportation he could rely on, paced steadily over the raging sandstorm.

A week it had been, since he had silently stole away from the city, leaving only a young lieutenant as its replacement commander. He had told the young man the truth in why he was leaving the city--in a way. The only Tranmankand could hold out was through outside aid, and only the intervention of the Commander of the Guard could successfully bring in help from the Eastern city of Pravoka. Only he wasn't going east. He was going south, to Coneria.

It had take several days for Bes'tan to reason it out. But in the end, it turned out to be a decision on intuition: it could not be Coneria that was attacking Tranmankand. There was something strange about these men who were besieging the city, something not quite right. He knew about Conerians, he had been to the Dream City once; they were proud, almost arrogant, but they had a sense of unbreakable honor and trust. These men, though they wore the same uniforms and armor of the King's Own, were not this way. They were grim and vengeful, with a purpose to destroy the city and salt the grounds. And at night, it seemed like tiny fingers with sharp points on their bodies, much like sand-imps, moved out and about in the camps of the army. Perhaps they were just apparitions, but these men, they were definitely not Conerian.

Bes'tan yanked on the reins, and the ostrich stopped, biting hard on his gloved hand. He had yanked on it too hard, and apologized to the animal. He wanted to look at the odd terrain. The desert was gone. It was like a dividing line between green and yellow, as the sand, suddenly there, had given way to green grass, as if there was no sand at all. But it was because the Sind Desert was expanding, and the grass would soon be covered by the lingering sand storms. Already, from the north, the wind shifted and blew the sand closer to the Dream City. He was almost there. Only a few more leagues to the river, and the bridge, and he, Commander Taxu Bes'tan, would go into the Conerian Castle himself to ask for help against the army.

* * *

A long file of cavalry, knights in silver on tall, brown horses, rode at the back of procession. In front was a woman on a black horse, her beauty veiled by a shroud of black. Makery Asuion, Commander of Amladorian Armies, watched the sea of men, all dressed in the Conerian gold and blue, of the King's Own, spread out over the desert sands, surrounding the city. It was beautiful, he reflected. To be able to fool these sand-people into thinking that their own protector, Coneria, was attacking them.

The woman dismounted, her veil still on as the twenty some knights followed her, their armor clanking as they got off their steeds. Their visors were down and each moved in a strange way, mechanically and without any fluid movement expected of humans.

Before Asuion could question anymore the woman spoke.

"What will the city fall?"

"Soon lady," he responded, bowing low though she had not acknowledged him. It was the Fiend of the Earth he was talking to, and to displease her was...suicide. "Very soon. Tranmankand will fall, and its people will be converted to hate Coneria."

The plan was simple. An army besieged Tranmankand, thousands of men and a host of hidden Imps to way lay any unwary travelers that came too close to the siege. The Amladorians had the dress of the King's Own, an elite unit of Conerian Knights, to fool the Tranmankanders into thinking it was Coneria tha was attacking them. Warriors from Tekam, a ruined kingdom that had been a perpetual ally of Amlador and the Fiends would break the siege, scattering the Amladorian army back to their hidden fleets, while Tekam freed Tranmankand to form an alliance with Amlador and Tekam, to forever hate the Dream Kingdom.

It was a plan of deception, and brewed by the Fiends themselves. Asuion knew he was just a piece on the board, being moved like countless others to the eventual battle between Tari and Alatari. But unlike the last war, there was no Tari to fight, just their legacy, slowly dying in the faltering city of Coneria, its last hope placed in the Light Warriors. The Tari were gone, their belief to harmonize with four elements an old philosophy. nothing more. No civilization would live in harmony with its surroundings! They needed to manipulate the elements, to use them for their own needs. To survive. It was something that the first kings of Amlador and Tekam were told to by the Fiends. To them, the clash between Tari and Alatari was not based on good and evil; they did not exist. The Fiends sprang out of the Friends' hearts out of necessity, because they knew something was missing from Gaia. But instead of embracing the aspects of the Fiends, they clashed. It was a clash of ideology, of philosophies, of whether to use the elements or to live in harmony with them. Only in the end, man must inevitably use his surroundings. In the end, the Fiends would prevail.

Lich's hidden eyes surveyed the fake Conerian host, as she looked at the hundreds of tents sprawled in the desert ocean, all of them swaying slightly as the wind puffed.

"My lady, my men have voiced some concerns about the amount of wind-"

"Wind does not concern me. My brother plays with it, and it is not under my control. When do the Tekaman soldiers come?"

"Their approach is in the north, and they have complained about the sand that infests their boots and clothes," Asuion hinted quietly.

The veil hiding those lips, a perfect full red, shifted and flew off, revealing half of the Fiend's face. Asuion gasped. Besides the lips, there was nothing. No flesh, only clean bone. The beautiful woman he imagined was...the flesh grew back, warm white tones permeating her face until there was a face to look at. Slowly, the woman lifted her veil completely. The flesh around her eyes grew back, as she stared at him with dead brown eyes, as if nothing had happened.

"The sand will protect your troops from any unexpected surprises. You do not wish Coneria to see what you are doing to their Northern City, do you?" She pursed her lips sweetly. "Trust in me, as your ancestors have."

Asuion knew why the knights behind her did not lift their visors. Somehow, he imagined them being a thousand times worse.

* * *

The candlelight reflected the ivory of the qiess pieces in an odd way, making the abstract faces animated. Queen Jane of Coneria smiled as she moved her piece to an elegant capture of her husband's knight. Lyr's brows furrowed in concentration, and hesitantly, he moved another footman to the next square. Jane skillfully moved her main piece, the queen, to capture his other knight.

"Blast, woman!" Lyr said, playing chiding her as he smiled. He had remembered playing this game during their courtship, and she, a daughter of the Consul of Pravoka, was skilled at diplomacy as much as the game. He had always told his queen he let her win. It was not true. "Your tactics astound me."

She smiled, that same sweet smile that had made him love her for the past thirty years. "All the better to protect my king."

Lyr nodded, looking at the remaining pieces. He group the last knight by the mage, while she completed her move. The jester joined the knight and mage, while Jane moved her queen to another square. His other mage joined the three, completing a four point, a standard defensive procedure.

"It feels sometimes, that we are being used, as pieces on a board, and something greater is moving our direction. Even the Light Warriors are nothing more than pieces, as they are moved from place to place." A great weariness suddenly took him. Wherever those youths were, he felt they were still being moved around like pawns. Was it possible for them to break free? Jane laid an reassuring hand on his.

"If they are pieces, they are moved by the souls of our Creators. While they continue their journey, we must continue ours," she said softly.

A knock interrupted them. "Your majesty? There is an urgent matter to attend to...an unexpected guest."

"Bring him in," Lyr said.

The door opened, admitting a tall man with a heavy cloth wrapped about his face. His clothes marked him as a soldier, a northerner. They were dirty, ripped and torn from grit and wear. He unwrapped the cloth, and bowed.

"I am Commander Taxu Bes'tan of Tranmankand."


	20. Chapter 19: Crescent Lake

Chapter Nineteen: Crescent Lake

Angrily, the thief smashed his boot into his bed, disturbing the dust that plumed into great hazy clouds, making him cough. Shaking his head in a disgusted manner, he opened the curtains, made out of some lacy material that had not been opened in years. More dust erupted into the air.

_Lacy_. He remembered Lacee, the young Consul of Provoka, and unconsciously, his hand went towards his sword, her gift- almost as good as her kiss. It seemed so long ago, Jakk thought, as he stared at the window, looking toward the expanse of city.

The view he had was spectacular, and it showed the beauty of Crescent Lake. City of the Magi. He opened the window, and looked out, watching the sea gulls soar gracefully in the air. Under those birds were people of all kinds: elves, dwarves, men, and most of all, mazes. Merchants, peddlers, and hawkers displayed plenty of the world's goods in awnings and shops on both sides of the wide plaza. The creations of the Friends all congregating in a cosmopolitan center surrounded by a lake.

He sighed, looking out at the stone tiled square, the main center of commerce and talk of Crescent Lake. It was late morn, and already people bustled buying goods from hawkers, as peddlers sat beneath their wagons and carts, displaying wares, and as shopkeepers invited citizens to their shops.

The cries of sea gulls added a new noise to the din of the city, and the birds cycled the massive fountain in the center. People stopped to gap in amazement as water gushed merrily, and Jakk still felt a small tinge of shock at these people just watching the water flow. In the city surrounded by the sands of the Sind, he had learned to take care of the precious substance. Not here.

It was the people who interested him the most. Beings he had never seen before together, only told in old tales, were suddenly before him, very much alive. Elves and dwarves, their appearances sharply contrasting each other, crossed paths in the wide streets without any thought of differences. Human, who, outside of the city, would never have thought elves and dwarves existed, walked through the throngs without surprise. It was a city out of the First Age, when all of the Tari's creations were not so isolated.

The sight of many mages, however, made Jakk scowl. Unlike most nations, who mistrusted magi and banished them as a thing of the past, Crescent Lake's age made it an attractive refuge for magic-wielders, for like all things of the past, they were tolerated. The wide, crimson hats of Red Mages bobbed courteously to white cloaked healers, as yellow hatted blacks sauntered through the many mage shops; their faces were not as hidden as Bane's.

_Bane._

The half elf, still mysterious and taciturn as always, but now, a malice had filled those yellow glowing eyes.

It had happened when the five of them- Klad, Jakk, Aki, Bane, and Sara- were sailing to Crescent Lake, on the stoutest ship the Elf Prince could find, an Elven cruiser-the _Kasimo_. The journey had not gone smoothly, as the rough, wild, south seas tossed the man-o-war around like a toy boat, and the winds and rain dashed themselves on the ship. It was nothing compared to the calm of the North Aldi Seas, where the deadened silence of the ocean made maneuvering a ship impossible without oars. Jakk, never experiencing the lurching of his stomach as it had then, spent most of his time over the ship's bridge, holding onto the railing tight and turning green.

He had not even gone into Klad's cabin. And why in the name of the Tari would he want to steal the knight's sword for?

But it was gone.

The thief had only known about it when Elles had informed the crew that there was a thief among them. Jakk thought he was stating the obvious, but he realized that his attire marked him not as a thief, but of a lord, dressed in a high collared, blue coat of Elven cut, with good leather boots that snugly fitted his feet. No, he was still a lord here.

Like everyone else, he blinked in surprise when the Prince had said the sword was gone, and for it to be found and returned immediately.

Jakk had been talking to Sara when Elles had said it, and the two walked away, he, making small jokes, and her, giving him a worried glance. Sitting at a small table in his cabin, she looked at him with concern, and his grin had soon melted into a puzzled expression.

"What is it?" he had asked her.

She frowned. "Who would want to steal Ryar's sword. And for what purpose?" She frowned into her cup of tea, absentmindedly stirring the contents around. Jakk had never seen her so trouble. He hesitated to ask, but curiosity pushed him.

"Why are you so worried?"

The Princess smiled, as if reminiscing. "Ryar Haasions is more than just a knight of the King's Own. He's the closest thing to a brother I can have. When I used to go out to play in the gardens and forests near Coneria, he would come with me as both a friend and protector. I hated servants, or any adults in general. He was solemn then, as now, but always a big brother towards me, and I, a sister. He had no family of his own."

Jakk's throat went dry.

"He was an orphan?" _That makes three...me, Aki, Klad..._

Sara nodded. "They said his father was betrayed and fell into an ambush of imps in the Dark Forest. By who...no one knows. His mother was already dead." A grim look, one he had never seen before, filled her face, as she stared at the table. "The sword he carries...carried...was stained with his father's blood when he was found dead with it."

Silence filled the room. Sara pushed her tea around without any thought. "Just tell me Jakk...tell me you didn't steal it."

Jakk snorted. "Of course not; I'm not just a simple thie- he stopped. Of course he was! Even the Princesses knew that. But why would he steal it?

He put his hands on hers, giving an reassuring smile. "You know I didn't," he said, quietly.

She smiled back, but without the same reassurance.

"I guess I do." Sara stood, opening the door. The mage had been there, staring at him as if no door had existed. "Until next time, Jakk," Sara said, and then politely nodded to Bane. He returned it, and walked away, still looking at him, a small flash of steel showing from his sleeve. Jakk knew it was meant for him to see.

It was how it began.

And then everything seemed to turn for the worse. Bane's taunts, both with his eyes and mouth. It seemed like he was sure that the thief had stolen the sword, simply because he was a thief. Klad was quietly resigned as usual. Sara and Aki ignored him.

Aki was the oddest of all. Her whole demeanor had changed since Elfland, and the observant, wise, village healer behaved more like a bar maid, openly flirting with sailors and dressing more like a queen than healer. Her cloak was replaced by dresses of Elven style, tight so her...chest was shown better. She moved like a snake through the ship, ignoring the lurchings made by the angry sea.

It was no different when they entered Crescent Lake. After the _Kasimo_ was gone, Master Luhkan had greeted them, his face even more ancient than when Jakk had first met him. It was his wish that they rested before he would speak to them, and so Jakk found himself here, in the Mayor's House. Waiting.

_Here,_ Elles had said before he left, _your real journey begins_.

_Behind him, a hand clasped his shoulder. He gasped, looking back, hand going for rapier. A woman, face covered by a veil, stood. Those eyes were beautiful, a dark, earth brown color, wide and innocent._

_But she spoke without any innocence. "You would not strike a lady, would you, Skyaar?" She said his name as if was something useless, garbage thrown into the gutter._

_He gulped. "No. I wouldn't." She smiled, and her lips were two flower petals pressed together sweetly. She stripped off a gloved hand._

_Jakk started. There was only bone. Flesh filtered through bone, and the hand became human again, but Jakk screamed, jumping back and knocking over the table. _

_The woman stood there. "They hate you Jakk. You know it. The mages care nothing for you. The Conerians, the knight and princess..." She smiled. "Well, come. I will show you what is hidden behind their courtesy, hidden behind this...so-called quest." _

_She took his arm, and suddenly they were in the clouds, fluffy apparitions disappearing and reappearing in the backdrop of blue sky. They flew, and as the clouds disappeared, Tranmankand stood, its proud towers and walls defending against sand and...an army. _

_Hundreds of tents and banners fluttered in the dry wind, and men, thousands, knights with cloaks fluttering like banners, and archers oiling their bowstrings. On each tent, banner, and cloak, the symbol borne was the crescent moon and stars. Coneria._

_With a roar, men charged, and the whine of a thousand arrows struck, drowning the cry of the Tranmankand City Guard. The shafts struck, piercing wall, shields, and flesh. A weaker volley came down from the walls, accompanied by a cry. "Lakura et dal! Taakan Lakura et dal!" The only Elven words Jakk knew. For the honor of the City under the Sun._

_Ladders scaled the high walls, and men, like ants, climbed, fighting doggedly against the fatigued guards. _

_Jakk tore his sight from the bird's eye view of the scene, to the woman. "You see? Coneria attacks your city." She laughed harshly. "There is no honor in that. You are just a minion, a scapegoat for blame on this quest. Nothing more."_

_"No. No, it can't be. This cannot be." Tranmankand. His home. The only place he could call home._

_"No..."_

_He was back in his room. The woman was still there. Smiling. Patient. "Before I go, check the white witch's room...you may find all your troubles there."_

_She turned to leave, but Jakk shouted a question. "Who are you?" _

_The lady responded without turning around. _

_"I am known as Lich, Fiend of the Earth."_

Jakk screamed.

A sweat broke out on his brow as he woke.

_Good,_ he thought,_ good_. _It was a dream._ Something was burning on his chest.

The orb. He tore his shirt open, and there it was...earth colored, glowing, and hot, lava and mud swirling together.

_No. It wasn't real._

He staggered out of the room, into the hallway. At the end of it, Aki's room. He felt his feet moving towards it, his hands pushing the door aside, his mind going towards the closet. And there it was. Klad's sword. What was going on? That dream...

"So you _did_ do it," growled a voice.

Jakk turned around, sword in hand.

Bane.

* * *

"An army, sire," Bes'tan paused, images of death and destruction coming back into mind.

The King had commanded him to tell his story, all of if, and now it was well past midnight. The Commander had started from the beginning, when the King's Own had looked for a young man, a Light Warrior, in Tranmankand. It ended with the coming of the Conerian Army, and Bes'tan's flight from his city.

He looked down at his sand ravaged gauntlets, waiting as the King mused over the whole situation, and Bes'tan then saw a man, troubled and bent with worry.

"I profess that I wish all of this would have come when age had not yet withered me," Lyr said to the sun-burnt man, "But we do what we have to with the time we are given."

Suddenly, he slammed his hand on the table, slopping wine and startling the Tranmankander. "Blast! It was my own fault that I did not send scouts to the north. This cannot stand. Amlador and Tekam, ruin their kingdoms might be, is behind this." Bes'tan nodded his head in agreement. "But I am one of the few who do believe it, sire. Many cry for vengeance against Coneria, and the Three Lords of Tranmankand..." he trailed off.

Lyr nodded his head and stood up.

"Sire..." Bes'tan, startled, and Lyr, so lost in his own thoughts, finally realized he was there.

"This is a beginning to the evil, Commander. I can only hope to stop some here, by breaking the siege. Come. A new day awaits, and we have yet to make our first move."


	21. Chapter 20: Slipping into Shadows

Chapter Twenty: Slipping into Shadows

Jakk stood there, frozen with shock as Bane steadily looked at him with his eyes, amber orbs that seemed to radiate heat.

"Why are you here? To put the sword in Aki's room and blame her?" A knife flashed into his hands. "You have stolen too much from us, Skyaar...you keep the key and lute that does not belong to you, and an orb which you have filched off of another..."

"No, Bane...no. You know I didn't steal it. I found it here...Bane!" Jakk reached for his rapier, the other hand still grasping the sword.

The flick of a hand sent the knife twirling at the thief from Bane's palm, but the thief brought both rapier and sword up, producing a loud _clang_ as metal hit metal and bounced off.

Jakk dropped the sword and ran, pushing back the mage and sprinting down the hall, down the stairs and out on the streets. He had been asleep for a long time, for it was already dark outside, and lamp posts were lit. Where were the others? No matter. He ran down the cobbled streets, seeking shelter. Safety.

Instinct told him to go into dark places, where he could not be seen. As he had done on the streets of Tranmankand, he went into a dark alley, and his memory flew back to a similar alley in the his home, and his meeting with Peach. It was there all the adventure, madness...all of it, began. Slowly, he looked down, at his chest, feeling the orb glaze heatedly at the skin.

_A minion, a pawn...they are nothing to you...your home is besieged..._The things that...that _lady_ told him...he shivered.

Was he a pawn? They certainly treated him like one now, Jakk thought. But Sara...no even she was distant now. His fingers tightened the grip he held on the orb involuntarily. He reached down to touch his rapier, felt the bulging of the Lute, and the familiar shape of the Taruna Key.

He would not be a pawn for anyone, and he could not stay in the the company of those three. No...his adventure started and ended in an alley. The thief slipped into the shadows, and was swallowed by the darkness.

_Four paths become one,_

_but their journey just begun._

_Into darkness one falls, _

_slipping into shadows when it calls._

End of Book I


	22. Interlude

Book One Interlude

Four Warriors. Though time blurs the legend of four youths that will save Gaia from destruction, a hopeful few remember, as they watch their world decay. The seas grow wild, the land rumbles with discord, and the forests grow dark and impassable. The kingdom of Coneria, guardian of the dream of the _Tari_, shrinks as the Fiends return, with them their armies, ready for the decisive battle to conquer Gaia.

Luhkan, mage and lore-master of the Kingdom of Dreams, sends riders to find the Four, with the only clues from a dream.

From the northern desert city of Tranmankand, a young thief, Jakk Skyaar, bears the replica of the Earth Orb, darkened and bubbling with a burning ferocity.

In the village of Dysler, on the outskirts of the Dark Forest, where generations ago, the battle between _Tari_ and _Alatari_ was fought, a village healer, Aki Arkyas, is called to the Dream City to serve her king, carrying with her an red sphere, a dark Fire Orb.

From the edge of the world, in the Blasted Lands, a mysterious black mage carries the black Water Orb, as he sails the seas to join the Warriors.

And in the kingdom of Dreams, a young knight has the most powerful of the orbs, the shadowy Air Orb, whose energies seem to spiral with insidious intent.

Lead by the young knight, Ryar, and the black mage Bane, the Four Warriors set out immediately to the Princess Sara, heir to the Dream Kingdom. Cautiously they become friends, knowing each has a mysterious past each of them is unwilling to reveal. But their pasts maybe be more tangled into each other's lives than they know.

After their defeat of Garland, the crazed knight of Coneria, they journey east, to the port-city of Pravoka, whose town had been ravaged by pirates. There, they met Captain Haust, who takes them over the sea to Elfland, to find Lukhan and establish a friendship with the Elves. Like Pravoka, they encounter the malignant taint of the _Tari_, who corrupts the Dark Elf Astos into possessing the Prince's body. Defeat comes for the Dark Elf only after a great battle as Elven and human blood is spilled on the Plain of Merado.

Pressing forward, the four go on to the City of Magi, where they will finally meet Lukhan and the other great Sages of the world. But already the darkness of the _Tari_ sweep over them, and secretly, each is troubled by each other...and then the group breaks apart under tendrils of suspicion.

Pronunciation Guide

_Author's Note: We've all seen our share of odd names in Final Fantasy: Tellah, Porom and Palom, Firion, Cloud, and more recently, Paine (oddly pronounced 'pine'). This story is no exception, with its own share of odd names that I either invented or found some inspiration in other stories. Here's a list of some of the oddest names, and how to pronounce them. Capitalized words represents where the syllables should be stressed._

Ryar "Klad" Haasions: ree-AR "k-lad" ha-sheons

Jakk Skyaar: ja-K sk-i-AR

Aki Arkya: A-kee AR-kai-ya

Bane Elsor: ban-EE el-sor

Lyr May'ana: l-EER may-ana

_Author's Note: Hallo to all my readers (if there are any left)! I know I haven't updated in a long time, due to a combination of unfortunate events. I am sorry this will be the last chapter of this story, perhaps for a while, or perhaps forever. _

_There has been an accusation of plagiarism by a reviewer, but this is completely unfounded and is due to an accusation of plagiarism I made on the author. has not done anything about this, nor does it seem like they will, (I've been waiting for a few months), and this disappoints me greatly. _

_I also, when looking back at the chapters, realize I have no clue where I am going with this. Klad, Jakk, Aki, and Bane have a long way to go before they can face Chaos and the Four Fiends, but most of the area between where they currently are and the place they will be in the end is blank. I have no clue how I will present a lot of details found in the game, and it seems like the novel will turn into a giant bloated thing if I continue at the rate I am going. _

_Finally, I plan to revise the mess I have now. Not start on new messes. If anyone is really curious of the mysteries I've left the readers in Book I, please feel free to e-mail me and maybe that will ease your mind a little._

_I am deeply sorry I cannot finish this; I hate leaving novels finished. I will try to continue it if time allows me. _

_Smurfkiller_


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